Cleaning smarter: How technology and innovation can help keep Malta clean

Part 1 of 2-part series

Malta faces a particular challenge when it comes to keeping public spaces clean. A growing resident population, millions of visitors and intense commercial activity all have to be accommodated within one of the smallest and most densely populated countries in Europe.

That pressure becomes particularly visible during the summer months, when promenades, beaches, entertainment areas and tourist centres experience exceptionally high footfall. The smart answer, therefore, cannot simply be more bins, more garbage collection trucks and more cleaners following the same fixed routes.

On an island where every square-metre of land counts, we need to use infrastructure, resources and innovation more creatively. Simply adding more people and traditional equipment while relying on the same labour-intensive methods may no longer be viable or financially sustainable. This is where technology, automation and data come in handy.

Cleaning when it is needed

Traditionally, cleaning in Malta has been based largely on schedules. A toilet is checked every few hours. A bin is emptied every morning. A street is swept according to a local council timetable. But demand is rarely uniform.

A public convenience next to a busy beach may require attention several times within a short period, while another facility nearby may hardly have been used. One bin on a promenade may be overflowing while another on the same route remains half empty.

Technology allows cleaning solutions to move from schedule-driven cleaning to demand-driven cleaning.

Even toilet paper and soap dispensers can now provide useful operational information. Sensors can monitor refill levels, while people counters can indicate how heavily a public convenience is being used. Cleaning teams can therefore respond to actual demand rather than carrying out the same rounds regardless of need.

Technology can also reduce the need for repeated manual intervention altogether. Self-cleaning public toilets can automatically wash and sanitise key surfaces after each use. Rather than increasing staffing levels simply to keep pace with higher footfall, these systems use automation to maintain hygiene standards. These systems are already in use in European cities that are also experiencing the same labour shortages Malta is facing.

But even if not automated, data collection can play a vital role. At a famous landmark in Amsterdam, for example, it was reported that data-driven washroom cleaning—through intelligent paper dispensers—reduced cleaning time by 27%, while the availability of paper towels and toilet paper increased to almost 100%.

This is a solution already being deployed in the private sector in Malta. The same could be applied to beaches, public conveniences, hospitals and government buildings. Digital cleaning audit systems can then go further by recording, tracking, and optimising this work.

Could Malta’s promenades clean themselves overnight?

Automation is also transforming street-cleaning machinery. Autonomous and semi-autonomous sweepers can navigate predetermined routes using technologies such as GPS, cameras and LiDAR while detecting obstacles and adjusting their movement.

This is already being tested internationally. Singapore’s National Environment Agency and the City of Porvoo in Finland have trialled autonomous environmental-service vehicles for road cleaning.

Malta has shown it is willing to try this technology. The first autonomous bus pilot began this year in San Lawrenz, in Gozo, and the licensing and safety questions that have to be answered for that project are the same questions any automated sweeper will face. With that path now open, moving part of the street-cleaning operation into the late night and early morning hours, when promenades and roads are at their emptiest, might be a viable option.

Compact electric autonomous sweepers are being deployed across the EU for urban and historic environments, including areas affected by high tourist numbers.

For Malta, the application is easy to imagine. Suitable sections of promenades in Sliema, St Julian’s, Buġibba, Qawra or Marsaskala could potentially be cleaned using autonomous pedestrian sweepers and scrubber equipment.

By the time residents and visitors arrive the following morning, much of the routine sweeping could already have been completed and the place would be clean.

This does not mean putting robots onto every Maltese street tomorrow. Pedestrians, gradients, parked vehicles, road crossings and safety requirements all need to be taken into account. But “not everywhere yet” is not an argument for “nowhere at all”.

This technology is also much gentler on Malta’s limited water resources. In the same Singapore trials, authorities reported one system achieving water savings of up to 60% against conventional methods, using filtration and suction instead of a continuous flow of fresh water. On an island where every litre counts, this is another important factor.

Of course, none of this is free. Sensors, connected dispensers and automated sweepers all carry a capital cost. And as a private sector operator that supplies this technology, I have skin in the game. The case for these solutions rests on what they save over their working life and the consistency they provide, not simply on their novelty.

The above does not solve all issues, we, as citizens, still have to do our part. A cleaner neighbourhood still produces waste, though, and that waste has to go somewhere. That is the subject of the second part in this series, where I will discuss how smart garbage storage and collection systems can help revolutionise the way we think and what this can mean for Malta’s public spaces.