The Nationalist Party escorted local journalists round the areas of San Ġwann, Swieqi, St. Julian’s, and Sliema to highlight the dire situation regarding waste management and collection impacting the region and the country overall.

Afterwards, a press conference was held in which mayors, local councillors and members of the respective localities and eastern regional council spoke on the issue.

Present for this press conference were President of the Eastern Regional Council Anthony Chircop, Swieqi mayor Noel Muscat, St. Julian’s mayor Guido Dalli, Sliema mayor John Pillow, PN Coordinator for Local Councils Charles Bonello, among others.

During this press conference, the men stated that “there is no enforcement” for the garbage issues being faced. They stated that people are haphazardly putting out the wrong bags on certain days and at incorrect times.

Swieqi mayor Muscat noted that “we have a crisis with waste management and we [probably] know who is at fault for this”. He criticized the government’s lack of long-term policy as short-letting has increased over recent years.

The group present spoke in consensus on what seem to be the issues and faults behind this “grave issue for residents, locals, and tourists”. They also told the attending press that while progress is being made in overall waste collected, this issue is not going to be fixed without further enforcement and change to present Maltese legislation to efficiently tackle the root of the issue.

During the press conference, multiple references were also made claiming that some of the rubbish left outside in the areas viewed by journalists (specifically black bags) were cleaned up since Wednesday morning due to knowledge of the content of this media event occurring, despite the fact that black bags are not meant to be picked up on Wednesdays according to the waste collection schedule. These claims were backed up by photo evidence.

They also remarked that often times, the culprits behind the reckless abandonment of waste outside are typically foreign residents who live in short-let blocks of apartments. It was noted that these people – who might be used to their home cultures of putting all waste outside for collection, irrespective of the day of the week – need to be better informed on the waste collection schedules through harsher enforcement.

The mayor of St. Julian’s Guido Dalli reiterated that the locations worst affected by this waste crisis are those featuring areas of short-letting and elaborated by saying that students and foreigners within these areas are often the residents to blame.

Sliema Mayor John Pillow indicated that Sliema is one of the worst-hit localities regarding inadequate waste management; so much so that the locality currently faces an issue with stray cats and rats in the streets.

Multiple spokespersons raised eyebrows by questioning the effectiveness of the fines that are meant to be given to such people who carelessly leave out their waste at incorrect times, indicating that if this issue should be tackled accordingly, more fines must be handed out.

President of the Eastern Regional Council Anthony Chircop accentuated the importance of responsibility and said that while irresponsible residents are to blame, the government also has a serious role in the development of this dire issue. Those present in this press conference uniformly stated that the government’s inadequate responses towards their cries on this subject have been ongoing since 2016 – ever since organic waste separation was first introduced.

“More awareness is required, though solutions are needed now to enforce more efficient waste management”, Chircop said on Wednesday afternoon.

Moreover, the councillors expressed their frustration at the fact that little to nothing was done to tackle the promised reforms on this issue in the period between 2018 and 2022, i.e., during the timeline such reforms were meant to take place.

They continued that implementing change on a national scale often ends up producing inefficient results, citing that this issue is another such case and that more topics should be faced at a regional level. As an example, references were made to how local councils no longer have the jurisdiction to tackle this issue themselves and that councillors risk receiving a fine should they take this matter in their own hands; waste management now falls under the jurisdiction of the regional committees.

The press conference ended with the points that this is not a partisan issue and that this is ruining Malta’s image. A statement was then shared describing that while regions along the eastern region were given note “this is not a regional issue, this is a national issue”, and therefore, the issue on waste management must be tackled for the sake of our country.