Sliema council launches waste management reform

The Sliema local council today launched the waste management reform, in a bid to address the garbage collection problem.

Mayor Anthony Chircop said the local council was doing its utmost to see that Sliema becomes the clean locality it used to be.

"We ourselves went out on the streets to set an example and clean up the roads. We hope that the new schedule, together with the cooperation of the residents, will help keep our locality clean," he said.

Currently, garbage collection is carried out between 8am and noon, which means that residents who work during the day would either take out their garbage late at night or early in the morning.

The new system will see the collection of garbage being carried out between 7pm and 10:30pm.

"In this way we'll make sure that residents won't need to take out their garbage early in the morning or risk missing the rubbish truck," councilor Paul Radmilli said.

He added that this system would also alleviate traffic jams from the narrow Sliema streets, as the trucks won't coincide with school buses or the rush hour.

Radmilli added that the council will also see that skips are placed at garage level in apartment buildings. This way, block residents would place their garbage in the skip and the truck would simply empty it.

"The contractor will also be responsible of emptying the bins along the roads. Street sweepers don't go every day through the same road, with the result that some bins end up overflowing. Now we have agreed with the garbage collector to empty the bins as well," he said.

Radmilli added that garbage collection on Saturdays would be carried out at noon.

He said that residents have requested that wardens issue more fines to whoever leaves their garbage around. However, Radmilli said the council was against turning Sliema into a "police state" by placing a warden at every corner.

Meanwhile, the adjudication board of the local council will be meeting next week to go through the tenders submitted for the sweeping of roads. Another tender will be issued to change the bins.

Matthew Dimech, executive secretary of the Sliema local council, said that studies and consultation were carried out before call for tenders were issued.

Mayor Chircop said that the local council was directing its energy "to correct the shortcomings" carried out by the previous council.

"We not only want to improve the image of our council, but we also want to give Sliema residents what they deserve," he added.