There are at least 15 people employed full-time by the government to clean Comino, yet a group of volunteers last weekend collected 140 bags of rubbish in five hours, including glass bottles that are 30 years old.

Among other garbage, the group found 7-UP, Fanta, and even Hi-Spot glass bottles that were last in production in the 1980s and 1990s, lying around some of Comino's inland building attractions, which often attract tourists and locals for hikes and trekking.

Last Saturday, four environmental NGOs - Nadur Nadif, Din l-Art Ħelwa, The Cast-Out Project and 7R Lifestyles Malta - organised a clean-up on Comino to raise awareness on environmental protection. They collected 140 bags of garbage weighing a total of 2.3 tonnes in around five hours.

The group said that near the beaches, the garbage was mostly food waste left by tourists and commercial kiosks. But further inland, rubbish was older and more concentrated, and included more glass bottles. 

It is hard to say when the oldest bottles were thrown away, but some are clearly at least 30 years old. Hi-Spot is not even in production anymore.

Comino cleaners balloon

This is despite an ever-growing number of beach cleaners that the government is engaging to clean tourist attractions around the islands.

Parliamentary questions by Gozo PN MP Chris Said over the past years reveal that the number of government workers employed to clean Comino went up from three in 2015 to 11 in 2017 and 15 in 2021.

And those are only the workers that fall under the Gozo Ministry and its entities. The Tourism Ministry employs more workers tasked with cleaning Comino through entities like the Malta Tourism Authority and the Cleansing and Maintenance Division.

It is unclear how many cleaners the Tourism Ministry employs. Questions sent to the ministry elicited no reply by the time of publication.

The group said that near the beaches, the garbage was mostly food waste left by tourists and commercial kiosks. PHOTO: Nadur Nadif.

In a statement released to the media, the four organisations behind the clean-up said they are "appalled by the obscene amount of garbage that has accumulated".

"Even though there have been multiple initiatives by a number of government agencies, there is still much more work that needs to be done," they said.

"The lack of EPU (Environmental Protection Unit) and Environmental Rangers is apparent from what we have seen during these clean-up events. Furthermore, it is obvious that there is surely a need for more investment in the Comino cleansing department and in its police force."

A spokesperson for Nadur Nadif said that the 140 bags were collected from just one area on Comino.

"It is astonishing how the supposedly protected Natura 2000 island was left to end up in such a state," he said, urging people to take it upon themselves to keep the island clean and pick up garbage whenever they can.

"We like to think that Gozo is the diamond in the Mediterranean, but the real diamond is probably Comino, and that's why we need to protect it even more."

The NGOs organised the clean-up on Comino last Saturday. PHOTO: Nadur Nadif.

Other environmental NGOs like Moviment Graffitti have long been calling on the authorities to pump up enforcement on Comino and to allow fewer tourists to visit the island during peak hours in summer.