In a show of environmental action, volunteers removed more than 2,000kg of waste from Comino in just six hours, focusing on the area surrounding the historic Il-Forn bakery.

The clean-up, part of the ongoing ‘Ditch the Waste – Save Comino’ campaign, aimed to tackle long-neglected pollution hotspots, particularly decades-old glass litter scattered across the island’s sensitive garigue habitat.

The results were striking: 1,600kg of glass, 100kg of general waste, and 500kg of bulky debris were collected. Volunteers identified multiple informal dumping sites, including an abandoned agricultural storeroom near Il-Forn that had served for years as a makeshift landfill for broken glass. This area has now been completely cleared.

However, attention has shifted to a larger, untreated glass dump near the former Comino Hotel. This legacy site, believed to contain remnants of past commercial activity, remains a serious environmental threat and underscores the need for further remediation efforts.

In addition to the land-based clean-up, a small team continued the effort by kayak, collecting marine litter along the shoreline.

The initiative was organised by Friends of the Earth Malta, with support from Din L-Art Ħelwa and the Malta Environmental Foundation, and forms part of the Il-Forn ta’ Kemmuna project, which will see the former bakery restored as a hub for environmental education.

Well done to everyone involved!