Bulky waste has been dumped in a rural area, just three weeks after volunteers removed piles of rubbish, including car tyres, scrap metal and bags of garbage in a clean-up.

Photos taken on Monday show white goods, pieces of glass, scrap metal and plastic crates dumped in the area known as l-Aħrax tal-Mellieħa.

Bulky waste and debris dumped in Aħrax

Mellieħa local councilor Gabriel Micallef, told Times of Malta that the dumping problem in Aħrax had been regular and was becoming impossible to tackle with only volunteer resources. 

He also said that similar sites popular for hiking and camping like Manikata and Miżieb had also experienced fires started by irresponsible campers who faced no consequences. 

“No amount of clean-ups are going to solve this problem if this mentality prevails and there is no continuous surveillance and penalties for rule-breakers,” Micallef said. 

“I don’t understand how a person can dump waste in such a beautiful place. This is a cowardly and irresponsible act.”

“We need to instil more pride and cleanliness in our locality because cleanliness affects each and every one of us in different ways, both in matters of individual health and the locality's aesthetics.”

Volunteers at the Aħrax clean-up in July

Micallef said that environmental rangers should be hired to patrol the area and curb illegalities that were becoming increasingly detrimental to the environment. 

“I urge the government to seriously consider the Nationalist Party’s proposal to employ full-time rangers that have the protection of our environment and woodlands at heart,” Micallef said. 

The proposal for rangers was first made in 2018 when the PN put forward 80 proposals for local councils’ reform. 

PN MP Robert Cutajar raised the issue again in a May parliamentary sitting, to which Home Affairs Minister Byron Camilleri replied that it was being considered by the government. 

Nature Trust made similar calls in May after people were spotted cutting down branches off of protected trees in a Natura 2000 site for a barbecue, as well as the massive fire that devastated much of the Aħrax woodland.