Valletta Mayor believes money collected from proposed new fines should go into fund for green enforcement

Valletta Mayor Alexiei Dingli believes that funds from the fines shown in the proposed amendments to the Litter Act should go into a green enforcement fund, to help finance enforcement.

The public consultation on the proposed changes to the Litter Act was recently launched by Parliamentary Secretary for Consumer Protection and Valletta 2018 Deo Debattista. Mayor Dingli made clear that he has not gone through the whole proposal thoroughly yet, but said that the council will be proposing some changes.

“I cannot provide much detail as I am still going through it, however what I can say is that I would like the funds from the fines issued to go into some form of enforcement fund. One of the current problems is that fines are currently paid into government’s consolidated fund, meaning that enforcement associated with the litter act would be at the mercy of government funding. We should find a sustainable model where funds received from fines are sent back into enforcement to ensure that there is sustainability when it comes to enforcement of green issues. It doesn’t make sense waiting for the budget every year to see if we are allocated funds for enforcement.”

The proposed changes, as stated in the government statement, include that waste must be collected by vehicles of particular dimensions between 12.00am and 3.00am, and between 3pm and 5pm every day, including Sundays and public holidays.

Mayor Dingli, when asked about noise concerns, said that the times were mainly selected due to restaurants rather than residents, and that most restaurants are in the commercial centre not the residential areas. As such, he said that he does not think there would be much of an impact on residents.

“In addition, don’t forget that the vehicles used will be much smaller, and not the big garbage collection trucks. There is also the possibility of using electric vehicles, which do not make any noise.” He said he knows that the public cleansing department is looking at the possibility of such vehicles, but stressed that it is not cast in stone. “In addition, some rubbish collection already happens at night today, so not much will change from what already happens.”

Garbage collection in Valletta has been a topic of national discussion for a while now. Recently, reports read that domestic waste collection in Valletta costs more than five times the national average, and that rubbish was being left on the streets by restaurateurs, caused concern. Previously, V18 Chairman Jason Micallef had hit out against the situation in Valletta. “It cannot be that rubbish from restaurants etc is picked up during times when Valletta is alive and kicking. I’m talking about 1pm, 6pm, 7pm, etc. This needs a collective effort. The Malta Tourism Authority needs to get into this and sort this mess. This is a complete mess and it is not acceptable.” There had also been complaints about rubbish being left on street corners.

The consultation announcement also read that residents and business owners will be obliged not to take out waste more than half an hour before proposed times, and that those caught taking out waste outside imposed time slots will be subjected to a €200 fine on first offence, which can be upped to €500 on second offence, and to €1,000 on third or any further offence.

This newsroom asked Mayor Dingli for his opinion on these fines, given that they seem quite high. He stressed that ideally people will follow the rules.

“It is ridiculous that we need to issue fines in order for people to conform with the laws in this country. Our aim is not to fine people. We have been trying to solve the cleanliness situation for years. Ideally people follow the rules, but if some don’t then unfortunately we would need to go along that route. At the end we want to keep our environment clean, nothing more than that.” He stressed that if one were to incur the first fine, they should conform and not continue breaching the regulation should it come into force.

The local council is expected to give its full official opinion through the public consultation either next week or the week after, he said, due to the festive season. He stressed that the legal notice is based on a by-law the council had tried to issue, “so it’s more tuning rather than big changes.”

“The by-law was not approved as it was to regulate restaurants, but since the devolution of garbage collection from restaurants was not devolved to the local council, government did not approve it.” He said that instead government have come out with this proposal.