The Saving our Blue beach clean-up campaign wrapped up for the summer on Saturday, having collected around 4,250 kilograms of waste in recent months. 

Four concurrent clean-ups at Golden Bay, Għadira Bay, Pretty Bay and St George’s Bay marked the end of the campaign, which has included several other clean-ups at the same beaches and at Rinella Bay and Ramla Bay in Gozo. 

The campaign also included an educational campaign for young children on the repercussions of single-use plastic and marine litter, with the organisation of a writing competition among different student age groups in collaboration with the National Literacy Agency.

Environment minister Aaron Farrugia, who joined volunteers during the clean-ups on Saturday, said the campaign sought to engage the public, NGOs and the private sector in the fight against marine plastic litter. 

He said the government was making an unprecedented investment in Malta's waste management infrastructure and that people had already started to implement positive changes in their own lifestyles.

But achieving the country's targets in this regard, he added, would require doubling efforts. 

Saturday's initiatives also formed part of an international effort marking World Clean-up Day. 

Organisations, groups, and entities that joined the initiative included: Ambjent Malta, Environment and Resources Agency, WasteServ, Planning Authority, Resource Recovery and Recycling Agency, Nature Trust, Birdlife Malta, Funds and Programmes Division – Parliamentary Secretariat for European Funds, Archdiocese of Malta, BetPoint, Mellieħa Local Council, Birżebbuga Local Council, National Literacy Agency, Junior Chamber of Advocates, Għaqda Studenti tal-Liġi, Miss Malta, Malta Football Association, OzoGroup, FreeHour, and No to Litter Mellieħa. An additional dive clean-up was also organised on the day thanks to the effort of the NGO #Żibel.