Editorial: Waste management and the future of Malta’s liveability

A clean environment is not a luxury; it is a basic right. Every Maltese citizen deserves to live in a clean area, free from the blight of overflowing bags, littered streets, and unhygienic surroundings. This need becomes even more pressing in our tourist zones, which serve as Malta’s shop window to the world. Visitors arrive with high expectations, and their impressions – whether good or bad – travel far beyond our shores. For this reason, proper waste management in these areas is not simply a matter of convenience but one of national interest.

Cleanliness in our towns and villages cannot be left to chance. It requires the active participation of all involved: residents who sort and dispose of waste responsibly, property owners who ensure their premises are properly managed, businesses that respect collection rules, and collectors who carry out their work efficiently. The system must be smooth, predictable, and capable of handling peak demands. Calls for at least two garbage collections per day in tourist-heavy zones are both reasonable and urgent. These proposals must not be dismissed but treated as essential investments in the country’s reputation and quality of life.

The waste issue, however, does not exist in a vacuum. It is deeply entangled with a broader web of urban challenges: overdevelopment, unregulated tourism, traffic congestion, public disorder, and environmental degradation. When construction proceeds unchecked, when short-term rentals proliferate without oversight, and when public spaces are treated as disposable, the strain on waste systems becomes unbearable. These problems reinforce one another, accelerating a cycle of decline that is difficult to reverse.

Words alone will not solve these interconnected crises. Authorities must move beyond acknowledgement and into decisive action – urgent, coordinated, and evidence-based. The central government must listen not only to its experts but also to the voices of its own backbenchers, local mayors, and civil society groups who are closer to the ground realities. These stakeholders have repeatedly called for pragmatic measures: more frequent and better-organised waste collection, stricter enforcement against public disorder and noise, and infrastructure upgrades that support sustainable growth rather than unchecked commercialisation.

This requires resources, but it also requires vision. Urban policy must be designed with residents at its core. Cities and towns cannot be treated merely as platforms for economic exploitation; they are living spaces where families grow, children play, and communities thrive. If waste continues to pile up, if noise drowns out peace, and if the environment is further degraded, the social fabric itself begins to fray.

The cost of inaction is steep. Ignoring these problems will not make them disappear; it will simply make them harder to fix. The government must rise to the occasion, not only for the sake of its people but for the nation’s long-term future as a desirable place to live and visit. Cleaner, safer, and more liveable urban spaces are within reach – if the political will matches the urgency of the challenge.