07th August 2004

FOE welcomes enforcement on one way packaging

While Friends of the Earth Malta welcomes the action taken by MEPA and the Police Department in connection with one way cans and bottles of non alcoholic beverages in line with the Soft Drink Packaging Legal Notice 158, which was issued 6 years ago in 1998. It noted that any environment regulation is only as good as its enforcement.

One way packaging is a serious problem that has contributed to the Maghtab and Qortin landfills, and added to the uncontrollable litter disposed of throughout the islands. The best packaging regime is one that can be seen as a resource in itself, to be reused wherever possible, rather than dumped and removed from the economic chain at a cost.

Friends of the Earth hopes that such acts of enforcement will become a regular feature wherever necessary as part of a long term strategy to change production and packaging procedures as well as consumer patterns, in a drive to attain an environmentally and economically sustainable packaging regime.