A pile of discarded and broken tiles are littering the sea bed in St Paul’s Bay, just a stone’s throw away from where the new Sirens sports complex has recently finished work on a new swimming pool. 

The discovery was made by scuba diver and environmentalist Raniero Borg, who posted footage of the tiles resting atop the coral and algae on the shallow seafloor. 

Ironically, the dumped material was discovered on Friday, which happened to be Earth Day, an annual event held to demonstrate support for environmental protection. 

“This is absolutely shameful,” Borg told Times of Malta. 

“We went down to do a little clean up for Earth Day and found this, a whole area of seabed covered in discarded tiles.” 

Adding that he knew the area like the back of his hand, Borg said that he himself had, on past occasions, pulled hundreds of deckchairs and tyres out of the sea from that location, but that in recent months it had remained relatively clean and clear. 

“It is an absolute disaster,” he continued. 

“We are trying to take care of the environment and some cowboy contractor comes and does this.” 

“They have to face some sort of justice, because if no one takes it seriously then they’re going to keep doing it. Someone must be held responsible for this.” 

Borg said that he had last been diving at this location around a month ago and the discarded tiles had not been there. 

The dumped tiles were discovered just below a newly constructed sea wall that forms part of the Sirens Aquatic Sports Club, where an ongoing project will see the construction of new facilities for the club.

Alterations were also made to the existing swimming pool, where it was increased in level, and became open to the public again in June last year. 

Plans for the new Sirens complex were announced in 2019, with the Planning Authority saying that the project would receive some €2.2 million from its Development Planning Fund. 

Still image: Raniero Borg

Established in 2017, the Development Planning Fund takes fees received by the Planning Authority from regularising planning applications and tariffs charged to developers investing them in sustainable projects intended to improve the quality of life of communities. 

Projects can receive up to 70% of their costs in funding, which has been used for embellishment works and traffic management projects considered to be beneficial to the community. The fund is open to councils, government agencies, NGOs and private individuals. 

Some 80% of all of Malta’s waste is generated from construction and demolition activities, while the average in other EU countries stands at roughly 25%. Only 20% of construction waste is currently recycled, with the majority used to backfill abandoned quarries. 

Last year, the government launched a nine-year construction waste management strategy, where it promised to prioritise waste disposal standards for the industry and introduce a regulatory framework to manage such waste.