Ranger Unit Reports Sofrito Street Food Van To ERA For ‘Excess Littering’

The Malta Ranger Unit has filed a report to the Environment and Resources Authority over concerns of excess litter from the Dingli viral Sofrito street food van.

The Ranger Unit, which was set up by Cami Appelgren, said that they received an “overwhelming” number of reports from the public related to littering in the area and that they called ERA after seeing the site littered.

“Everyone who carries out commercial activity in a Natura2000 site is obliged to obtain a permit from the ERA for such,” they said.

“The reason for this, is for the site to be protected from degradation and saturation of environmental crimes (littering, offroading, excessive trampling etc). We have a concern that such a permit hasn’t been obtained and have asked ERA to confirm.”

“In addition to the ERA permit, a Hawker’s obligation, in terms of keeping the site clean, is also regulated by the S.L. 441.07 – Trading Licenses.  The  commercial  premises  are  at  all  times  to  be  kept  in  a  clean  and wholesome manner both within the premises and in the immediate vicinity outside the premises.”

The Ranger Unit said that while consumers are ultimately responsible to dispose of their waste properly, it is evident that, without monitoring by the authorities, its saturation is causing an “unavoidable issue of littering”.

“This late evening, our Rangers went on site and found a large amount of litter connected with the commercial activity. The site where the truck had been during the day, was not kept clean with food waste leftovers on the street.

“Our Rangers cleaned the whole area, since we do not wish to allow for such litter to remain in nature over night and negatively impact the fauna on site.”

“We ask the ERA to confirm if this activity has a permit or not and act on the matter. A full video of the trash on site was taken and will be submitted.”

“The enjoyment of these sites, including commercial moneymaking businesses, should not come at the cost of harming the natural environment.”