Waste disposed in the wrong bag will incur €25 fine that doubles for repeat offenders

Waste separation will be enforceable by law for everyone from 14 April with fines formally coming into force in October after a six-month educational campaign.

The fines will be applicable to households, businesses, governmental and non-governmental entities.

This means that organic and recyclable waste will have to be disposed of in their respective white and grey bags. Glass should be taken out for municipal door-to-door collection every first and third Friday of the month.

Two legal notices published on Tuesday in the Government Gazette are putting into effect the mandatory separation of waste, following a public consultation on these regulations by the Environment and Resources Authority (ERA) last November.

Nonetheless, during the first six months, between April and October, the authorities will be conducting an educational campaign for the public to familiarise themselves with these new regulations. 

Throughout this period, persons caught disposing of waste inappropriately will receive a warning. After the lapse of these six months, whoever is caught disposing of waste incorrectly will be fined €25 for households and €75 for businesses. These fines will double to €50 and €150 respectively if the individual is caught repeatedly disposing of waste inappropriately.

ERA officials and officials from other entities will be carrying out continuous inspections in all localities to ensure that waste is separated in line with the regulations, in the appropriate bags and taken out on the correct days. This follows a new schedule that was introduced in January by the regional councils, that are responsible for waste collection from households on behalf of the local councils.

Organic waste - the white bag - is collected on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. Recyclable waste - grey bag - is collected every Thursday, while mixed waste - black bag - is collected every Tuesday and Saturday.

In addition to door-to-door waste collection, residents in Malta and Gozo can also continue to use other methods, including taking recyclable waste to the bring-in sites in every locality or in the roadshow truck and the civic amenity sites operated by Wasteserv, as well making use of the free bulky waste collection service offered by the local councils.