Guides collect plastic bottles for recycling

Two hundred and fifty Girl Guides have been clearing the countryside of plastic bottles and have since March collected more than 82,000 bottles, which have now been presented to the government to export for recycling.

Environment Minister Francis Zammit Dimech told Girl Guides that according to an agreement reached with the European Union, 25 per cent of all packaging waste produced by Malta had to be recycled by 2005; and 15 per cent of all plastic bottles had to be recycled by 2009.

The minister said that in 1999 Malta used 75 million non-returnable containers which ended up at Maghtab.

More than 30 million of these containers were plastic water bottles, 11.2 million were fruit juice containers, 9.4 million sports drinks and ice tea bottles, 3.3 million were soft drinks bottles and 20.5 million were beer bottles.

A total of 12-girl Guide units from Rabat, San Gwann, Tarxien, Msida, Dingli, Mosta, Gzira, Zebbug, Attard, Gharghur, Qawra and Swieqi and a six-year-old girl from San Gwann Dolphins took part in the exercise. collecting the greatest number of bottles - 13,100.

The bottle collection exercise was the Guides' environmental challenge for this year.

Dr Zammit Dimech said that Progett Skart launched an exercise for waste separation in 25 schools. In future this exercise was to be spread to all schools.

He invited the Girl Guides to take part in a competition the ministry would soon be launching for a slogan on recycling. The ministry would then use the winning slogan on its Website.