Waste separation will become mandatory from April and fines for non-compliance will start being issued in October, the Environment and Resources Authority (ERA) has confirmed.

ERA deputy director Claire Cordina Borg told TVM that an information campaign will be held during this six-month time lag, during which enforcement officials will check bags and hand out warnings for incorrect disposal.

From October, fines will be issued for non-compliance, starting at €25 for households and €75 for commercial establishments, while fines will be doubled for repeat offenders.

She said that black bags might even be replaced with a more transparent colour so that the contents are visible.

“If you need to throw away food or organic waste, you cannot just dump it into the black bag; it has to go into the white bag. If you used to put paper metal and plastic in the black bag, it now has to go in the grey or green bag, the recycling bag”

Since the introduction of the new waste disposal schedule six weeks ago there has been a 20% increase in organic waste being correctly disposed.

Cordina Borg said that if people were to dispose of their waste correctly, it will become a resource that can be reused, transformed into energy, or composted. Recycled and plastic waste can be turned into plastic products.

At the moment, 90% of municipal waste is disposed of in landfills, and the goal of this law is to reduce it to around 10%.