“Due to being in the vicinity of a heritage site and also litter going into the protected nature site, the MRU has filed a report for aggravating circumstances both with the Environmental Protection Unit Police and the Environment and Resources Authority (ERA).”

The NGO went on to say that over the weekend, the Rangers called the ERA “no less than three times to report the litter situation.”

In a comment to Lovin Malta, MRU said that they reported the wedding organisers on Friday “for litter flying around the area during preparation”, and eventually on Sunday evening “for litter being left all over the place” and then on Monday morning “for having breached the 24-hour cleanup deadline as per SL 549.40.”

Yesterday evening, Parliamentary Secretary for Public Cleansing Glenn Bedingfield stated that officials from the cleansing department were sent on-site to clean the area.

“It will be cleaned by our workers, although this job should have been done by someone else. We cannot leave a pile of rubbish lying around.”

“I will be having a discussion with the concerned entities to establish a system that places responsibility on those who organise similar events, and even larger-scale events,” Bedingfield wrote.

He continued, “No more lack of respect and no more pushing away responsibility. Our country deserves to be clean.”

Meanwhile, MRU said that while it welcomes the information that cleaning was done around the Red Tower, the NGO does not agree “with the fact that seemingly, Maltese taxpayers had to foot the bill.”

“It wasn’t just any event; it was a luxurious wedding with over 1,000 guests. It was well known who the organiser was, and we don’t think paying for an urgent cleaning service would be a problem, especially since the offender promised the media to leave the place spotless.”

The groom, David Debono, associated with db Group and involved in organising the event, told the Times of Malta that all necessary permits had been obtained for the wedding, which was held on Saturday evening.

“The permits included that the place is cleared and cleaned within an established period and, in fact, this morning, the first working day after the event, our contractors were on-site to carry out the clearing process,” Debono said, insisting that the MRU’s footage was “misleading.”

MRU clarified that their footage showed “a reality”, with Bedingfield himself even confirming that on Monday, government workers did in fact encounter the scene depicted in the NGO’s footage.

Attendees at the wedding included Tourism Minister Clayton Bartolo, who was photographed at the event, as well as a number of politicians from both side of the aisle. 

The NGO told the newsroom that they are proposing the following addition to the current Subsidiary Legislation on public event cleanups:

“Cleanup has to commence immediately after the event in a public space ends, and the site is to be restored to its original state no later than 24 hours after.”

The organisation went on to say that several tourists were seen trying to watch the sunset from the site while “sitting amongst leftover trash bags on the garigue outside the event area.”

“What you see in this video was left on-site all Sunday and throughout the night. The stench from the food left in full sun was horrendous. Our Rangers have documented the littering for three days and will provide the authorities with sufficient evidence to take legal action,” the NGO captioned the footage.

MRU emphasised that “events in public spaces should never be conducted at the expense of wildlife and degradation of habitats. Additionally, this took place at a heritage site.”

Do you think that taxpayers should be paying for the cleanups of private events?