Malta’s biggest national clean-up to be held today

The first clean-up event starts as early as 8:30 in Mqabba – the first of 77 locations to be cleaned for World Earth Day

Malta and Gozo’s biggest national clean-up will be held today, as part of World Earth Day.

MaltaToday spoke to organiser Camilla Appelgren ahead of today’s national Clean-up which will be spread over 77 places. Camilla has been a Maltese resident for the last five years. She has set up Clean-up Malta and organised over 30 clean-ups all over the island including two annual national clean ups.

This year, Camilla has organised Malta’s biggest clean-up event yet for World Earth Day. Teaming up with Malta and Gozo’s local councils, they have managed to organise 77 clean-ups around the two islands, with 3000 participants signed up.

Camilla started Clean-Up Malta in 2014, after having done seabed clean-ups as a diver. She slowly moved into doing land clean-ups and kept going from there. Today, her Facebook group has 6,000 members, many of whom are very active. The group also works as a platform for Zero waste and recycling information. 

Camilla said that this Sunday’s event aims to bring people together ­– companies, government, councils, waste management service, people and NGOs – all working together on their day off for a good cause.

“We want to build a bridge between the citizenship and the government while cleaning the island. Meeting people outside working hours is always a good way to connect,” she said.

People who cannot attend the clean-up can also contribute, Camilla said, by taking a picture of themselves picking up trash on Sunday, and putting it in a bag. They can then send their photo on Malta Clean-up or the Earth Day Clean-Up page, and will then be counted towards the statistics for the day.

Together with local councils and 3,000 volunteers, the organisers will be tackling 77 different locations
Together with local councils and 3,000 volunteers, the organisers will be tackling 77 different locations

“The clean-ups themselves have a direct result – trash is disposed of properly. We recycle all we can, and what can't be recycled goes for landfill,” Camilla said. “The indirect effect is that people become more aware. The participants will get an eye opener, while the passers-by will think twice. So the indirect effect of clean-ups is mentality change of the people.”

While planning the event, Camilla found amazing help from the assigned leaders who are in charge of recruiting volunteers for their sites. Camilla said they have done amazing jobs, with all clean-up sites having plenty of volunteers and companies on board.

Camilla said that the councils will volunteer on site, provide bags and waste management, such as trucks sponsored by Wasteserv and PARK. She said that most councils were on board this year, with only five councils – two in Malta and three in Gozo – opting out.

Companies such as Catena Media have also shown their support, and will be sponsoring much needed equipment such as gloves, pickers and T-shirts. H2OMalta has also provided water so that volunteers can refill. Camilla said that many other companies have sponsored with food and raffle prizes for the event.

The event is one of two nationwide events Camilla holds per year, where she brings people together to clean the country. During last year’s event, 2,400 bags of waste were collected by 39 councils. Now, Camilla said she hoped to double the amount of waste collected this year.

During the clean-ups, Camilla said that the top items are usually plastic, such as plastic bags, caps and other single-use items, aluminium and glass bottles, and bulky items. In a month, she normally collects over 1000-1500 plastic caps during her clean-ups.

“Small plastic objects like bottle caps might look small, but when added together the impact is actually one of the biggest threats to our seas,” Camilla said.

Apart from the clean-ups, there are many ways people can clean the country. Camilla said that people need to understand that new plastic will be keep on being produced as long as we demand it.

“If a person simply starts with making a small change, five plastic bags less used in a week, that adds up to over 250 bags per year for that person only. We need to realise that our routines just need to change slightly for it to have a massive effect long term,” Camilla said.

“Many people say it should start from the top, but us at the “bottom” need to understand that the ones at the top, work for us and do what we want.”

All events can be found under the Event tab on “Earth Day Clean Up" on Facebook.