The Let’s Do It! Malta movement aims to make the island pristine by cleaning up rubbish. Photo: Matthew Mirabelli

Anti-litter vigilantes are planning to blitz-clean the island over a 48-hour period – and they need help.

The Let’s Do It! Malta movement is holding a public meeting at the University today to welcome volunteers and exchange ideas on how to achieve their goal of a pristine country.

“We plan to target multiple illegal dumping sites, which makes us different from other clean-up actions that concentrate on only one at a time,” said Faisal Sadegh, national coordinator of Let’s Do It! Malta.

“We wish to bring the Maltese people together and create a strong, positive attitude towards the sustainability of our home,” he added.

The Let’s Do It! movement started in Estonia in 2008 when 50,000 people joined forces to clean the entire country of illegal waste and rubbish in one day.

Under normal circumstances, the movement estimates it would have taken the government three years and €22.5 million to clean up the same amount. To date, roughly nine million volunteers have participated in Let’s Do It! actions and the network has spread to 110 countries, including Malta.

The Mediterranean clean-up will take place on May 10 and 11 in more than 20 countries. Sweden, Estonia and Austria have also joined.

“The working together of people from different sectors of society to achieve a common, positive goal is likely to boost the level of cooperation in our society in general, making it much easier to tackle other social challenges, not just the environmental ones,” believes Mr Sadegh, who is also the lead project coordinator of Let’s Do It! Mediterranean.

The Maltese-Libyan science student has been doing the initial planning for the activity with a hardcore of enthusiastic volunteers in Malta.

Numerous environmental NGOs as well as representatives from the University’s Institute of Earth Systems are expected to take part in today’s meeting.

“Everyone is welcome to attend. We are looking for volunteers and we are open to ideas,” said Mr Sadegh.

The meeting will begin at 6pm in the Gateway building, Hall B2, University. E-mail malta@letsdoitworld.org if you are interested in volunteering.