Everyone urged to do one's bit for environment

Everybody could do something to improve the environment, Environment Minister George Pullicino said yesterday.

Speaking during a debate on waste management at the University organised by the Studenti Demokristjani Maltin (SDM), Mr Pullicino said one could not expect the government to do everything but everybody needed to play his or her part. He said big changes started with small changes.

Mr Pullicino said Malta was the only European country where the public did not pay for waste collection. He added that there was even a charge in less advanced countries like Albania and Romania.

The minister said an engineered landfill would have a longer lifespan if less waste were dumped there. He explained that this could be done through more waste separation. In the past eight months about 540 tonnes of separated waste was collected from bring-in sites.

Mr Pullicino said between 26 - 28 per cent of people separated their waste and although this figure was higher than initially thought there was still a long way to go. By next year the number of bring-in sites would be increased to between 300-400 from the current 50.

WasteServ head of strategy and development, Chris Ciantar, said inspections were carried out on the trucks used to transport separated waste to ensure that it was not being mixed again.

The meeting's theme revolved around what university students could do to improve the environment on campus. Dr Ciantar said the about 10,000 students represented about 10,000 families, which generated about 10,000 tonnes of waste a year.

Mr Pullicino said it was important to take theses submitted by university students into consideration. There were six dissertations on waste management being analysed by WasteServ.

Mr Pullicino also spoke about the importance of "green leaders" within the university. One of the main targets set by the recently set up coordination office for corporate responsibility was to create a green network between ministries, departments and other institutions.