It’s your choice: rubbish in our local communities

Jamie Scerri Richard Unfortunately rubbish is everywhere. One just has to look closely from the car window or your bedroom window or simply as you are locking your front door on a typical windy day in Malta and a piece of rubbish will come floating your way.

Are we really a nation that loves to throw things away so much? Are we so busy that we do not have the time to think about our daily choices and fall into the trap of excessive consumerism without the knowhow to properly dispose of our waste?

A case study of the small town in the south of Malta of Tarxien was conducted to investigate the issue of local rubbish. At school we learn a lot about the 3Rs than how come people just forget all about these environmental principals once they are out of school and start their own families? In Tarxien, if one looks carefully you can spot rubbish thrown into fields and valleys… rubbish which can be reused in some cases or recycled but certainly it has no use amongst the wild grasses.

Few locals will admit their malpractices so I decided to ask a few questions to the Local Council of Tarxien and a local green grocery shop to investigate the daily habits of the people of Tarxien of which I am also a part of.

The Local Council is aware of what sustainable consumerism is. They also agree with our observation that a lot of the road rubbish is of a domestic nature: “Yes, because we (the local council) find a lot of bags, empty plastic or glass bottles and sometimes dirty clothes”.

All these objects can easily be disposed of in the grey garbage bags provided by the local council upon the presentation of an ID card showing proof of address.

When asked about the rubbish collection schedule, the Local Council pointed out that Tuesdays is the day that recyclable waste is collected. Even though more households are adhering to this initiative, this is not enough a sometimes out of laziness, some people simply don’t recycle. As the Local Council told me, “[People] throw their rubbish in the roads just to get rid of it was easy as possible.”

It is easier to preach rather than to practice, so we need to also teach the Maltese community what they can do to reduce their domestic waste. First off, when shopping, people should opt to buy products with less packaging in order to have less waste generated.

Secondly, Maltese companies should look at sustainable packaging solutions when rebranding themselves. Last year a popular Maltese brand got a new ‘facelift’ which is colourful and tasteful; however their rebranding was criticized for the addition of a new plastic bottle cap for their milk cartons.

Bottle caps cannot be recycled in the grey bags as they are too small and they end up incinerated leading to more toxic gases in the air. Instead these caps need to be collected separately and given to a site like a School or bar that supports this initiative and donates them to the l-Istrina campaign.

Thirdly, more serious action needs to take place when people violate environmental laws. CCTV cameras and harsher fines should be in place and the recruiting of people to help monitor these things is vital. The Local Council of Tarxien in fact stated how they try to enforce environmental laws however it is difficult to punish culprits.

As part of the case study, a local green grocer was also asked a few questions on the matter of sustainable consumerism and the choices that consumers make. He agrees that many of the products that he has on the shelves come with unnecessary packing.

A positive comment was the fact that various costumers do practice reusing as “I see people who come shopping and make use of old paper/plastic bags and when I give them nuts or sweets they would ask me to place them in their jars or containers [that they would have brought with them from home]. Some also return glass bottles back in exchange for money.”

Sustainable consumerism leads to a reduction of domestic waste which unfortunately is at times not properly disposed of. This lifestyle change can take place with practical choices that we can make in our daily lives such as: Not going shopping when we are hungry so that we avoid overbuying unnecessary items that we won’t consume; Be aware and know the difference between the ‘Best Before’ and the ‘Expiration Date’ – one just indicates by when we should consume the product the other shows us that it is eventually bad, thus we can still eat items that are past due their best before date; Glass jars should be reused for storing of salads, drinks, nuts etc…. there are also many online tutorials on how to up cycle glass jars and finally: opt for products that have less packing in order to send a message to multinational companies to reduce their own packaging after all we often pay for a name or the packaging rather than the quality of a product!

We humans often pledge that we want to make a difference however we never try hard enough. We need to start today or our future generations will end up living in a filth and unclean world. The choice is in your hands! The author is a student at St Edward’s College