Speaking to Lovin Malta, the local council claimed that the pile-up of rubbish in Buġibba was the result of residents not following waste collection schedules and a consequence of the locality being the most populated town on the island.

“The images provided were taken in a span of one month. Furthermore, these clearly show that this is not a matter of lack of cleaning on the part of the council, but it is due to a number of residents who are not following the waste collection schedule” it said.

“What is more, these pictures show several bulky items thrown in the streets when the council provides an excellent service of bulky waste collection for free,” it continued.

St Paul’s Bay has become Malta’s most populated town with a total of 45,000 permanent residents, making it all the harder to combat such pollution problems.

However, the issue isn’t isolated to the three northern localities alone, with statistics highlighting that the Cleansing and Maintenance Division collected 17,800 tons of illegally disposed waste around Malta in 2020 alone.

Nonetheless, the St Paul’s Bay Local Council has added an additional mixed waste door-to-door collection once a week to further encourage residents to dispose of their waste properly. 

“What is more, on a daily basis, council employees do rounds around the locality to collect abandoned rubbish,” it continued.

“Statistics show that in 2020, over 231 tons of abandoned rubbish was collected by these employees. This amount is over and above the 106 tons of bulky collection made through appointment.”

Bulky refuse collection happens every day apart from Sunday with residents having to book appointments for collection.

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