Rubbish in Malta

This is a story about waste in Malta (as we have observed) – when we arrived in September I was horrified about the rubbish on the streets of this beautiful island!

Malta has a resident population of half a million people (and island that is 27 km long and 14.5 km wide – 316 square km).

On top of the residents it has 2.5 million visitors (tourists) per year.

No wonder rubbish is a problem!

There are no waste disposal units in the kitchen and the rubbish is in a variety of bags that one puts out for collection each day!

Estimated organic rubbish is 57% of the overall waste – new collections have been just introduced! Bearing in mind most houses are apartments or properties with no gardens or back yards.

White bags – Monday’s, Wednesday’s and Friday’s – all organic (food) rubbish on the street for collection.

Green bags – general rubbish – Monday’s Thursday’s and Saturday’s.

Recycle (only cans and plastic bottles) Tuesday only!

Glass (wine, beer and jars) only the 1st Friday of every month…this is a bit of a problem and we need to find the bottle bins in between.

There are doggy bins for dog poo! A series of bins that divide the recycling and general rubbish in numerous places around the towns!

Malta is doing its best, but still people throw their trash into vacant lots, in the streets and from the boats! I hope that all residents, visitors and boat people will embrace the need to take care of this beautiful island!

The rains have cleaned the streets, however we are guessing that the trash is now in the sparkling Mediterranean, only to be washed up on the beaches with the changing currents!

We need to embrace the fact that humans can save or destroy this island paradise!