Straight off the success of clean-up day earlier this month, it looks like some people have already resorted back to environmentally harmful behaviours.

In a video shared on Facebook, Raniero, the man behind Ranier's Adventures, exclaims that this situation is the “joke of the day” and goes on to show the full extent of illegal waste dumping in Malta with toilets, car parts, splintered pieces of wood and metal, beat-up solar panels and even elements of cancer-causing asbestos left around Attard, Qormi, Bidnija and Salina.

At one point, the man lingers his camera in front of an outdated street sign in Attard which warns of CCTV cameras operating in the area and heavy fines on who is caught illegally throwing waste. “Where are the CCTV cameras?”, Raniero is heard saying off camera. He then moves on to the outdated sign directly below it and highlights the fact that the figures are still displayed in Maltese pounds, even though the Euro has been our official currency for over a decade.

In a comment posted on the video thread, Raniero points at public dismissal as a leading factor for this recurring behaviour. He also addressed negative comments which accused him of not doing his part by only filming the scenes: “if I collected a few items from each location I would [not] make a difference, have you seen the large quantity of rubbish? No hands are capable of collecting such items. Trucks full of rubbish would have to leave the locations. Before you click send just think about what is happening around us. We want to save our country. Thank you and good day!!"

Following public outcry after the video was posted, Clean Malta – a government organisation tasked with cleaning and maintenance tasks around the island – intervened to start the clearing up process of one of the areas highlighted by Raniero. As accurately predicted, large trucks were seen carrying the waste away.

Do you think there should be harsher penalties for illegal waste dumpers?