Designated Garbage disposals in Localities, the Worldwide approach

Malta is among the last countries standing that uses the door-to-door open-air garbage collection, which nowadays may pose risks, hazards and a mess on our sidewalks and pathways. Recently, because of these revelations a proposal by our Government suggests that we may adopt a new method for collecting waste in the coming years.

We're all aware of the weekly schedule each town is handed that depicts the time and waste category of the day. This practice has been going on for a while, with Local based waste collectors making routes thoughout our towns and promptly picking up the bags left outside our doors. However, these bags are usually simply placed outside and are exposed to the elements.

Ths seems very convenient in theory, but there's also plenty of cons with this way of dealing with trash. The primary issue is that the specific times that the waste bags are allowed to be taken out (up to an hour before collection is due), may strain homeowners with remembering and making time for the trip to leave the bags outside the front door.
Following this, once the bags are outside they are entirely exposed to the elements of wind, rain and wildlife that may pick and poke at the bags, often leaving scattered rubbish because of this. 
Such negative inclinations are completely overshadowed by the actual act of further diminishing sidewalk spaces and having sequential black or grey bags along one's trail. That's a walk no one would enjoy, let alone if the pedestrian has issues with their mobility. Others affected such as those with strollers or mobility scooters are often seen stepping off the pavement onto the street to overcome the obstacles on the sidewalk. 

In light of this, a recent proposition to manage the waste and encourage a cleaner country for people to have better accessibility and mobility opportunitieswould be to have designated collection spots. These would be placed within certain areas for everyone to access, and are available to drop waste off at any time of day. 
By having such a routine, citizens can drop off their trash while running errands and not having to work around the pick up times. The ability to also mark a place for the drop off would make walking that much more enjoyable for people! As our sidewalks may already seem challenging sometimes, the space would now not have to be shared with messy obstructing bags which are at risk of tearing.

However, the sudden shift to a new system is predicted to take about 10 years to gradually ease the new system on the citizens. By first introducing drop offs per street, then neighborhood and then even larger areas this new routine can take off easily enough with everyone's efforts!

What do you think about the change to designated waste drop offs as opposed to behind-the-door pick up? Let us know in the comments below!