Quality of life

The Malta Independent On Line

Opinion

http://www.independent.com.mt/news.asp?newsitemid=99929

Do we still have an entity that protects consumers here? Is it dormant or extinct? Can someone explain to me why customers are getting such a bad deal?

The back seat of my car has always looked like a bag lady’s trolley, because, fool that I am, I think that trudging (well not exactly, because I drive there) to the recycling bins (only with bottles now) makes a difference to our environment.

When I drove past what will no doubt become Malta’s twin towers not far from Mount Maghtab the other day, I really could not see why I bother when my efforts make not a blind bit of difference to the big picture, really.

Has my quality of life improved as a result of lugging plastic and paper and bottles to the bins for over a decade and still doing the rounds with the bottles?

Has it hell! The back seat of my car is still a dump and has no room for passengers. This is because although I now have paper, plastic and metal collected from my doorstep, I always have a constantly changing array of cardboard boxes, cloth and paper carriers in all shapes and sizes and a variety of what are now the most precious items in my kitchen – plastic bags.

I go to a large home equipment retailer and buy a trolley load, including bulky stuff, and I am expected to carry it all in my arms, unless I pay for a plastic bag with the store’s name emblazoned on it.

So whereas businesses have to pay quite a bit of money to advertise elsewhere, we the customers are paying to provide shops where we spend good money with free advertising.

The supermarkets are just as bad. Why can’t they provide free strong paper carrier bags? People spend enough on food and other miscellaneous domestic items to warrant a free carrier bag.

Retailers should have the decency to provide adequate carriers for the goods to be transported away.

At least some provide a variety of cardboard boxes, but not all even provide handle-less plastic bags for frozen and chilled items. Hence my supplies in the back of my car.

What kind of customer service is it when you are expected to carry, out of the shop, frozen food stuffs in your hands, unless you pay extra for the privilege of having spent your money there, by buying a plastic bag?

I refuse to supply shops in which I spend quite a bit of money with free advertising. It might be a few cents to the consumer, but it adds up quite nicely for the retailer.

Some shops are decent and have been providing paper carriers, for which they do not charge. But too many retailers have benefited from a bonanza – getting rid of their surplus of plastic bags, with their names on, by selling them to their customers.

Add to that the fact that we are now also spending more to buy extra plastic bags for recycling and our normal rubbish.

Besides, the recycling bags are not strong enough and one has to use a black plastic bag as lining to stop all your recyclables spilling out all over the pavement. So, actually, the supermarkets are selling more plastic than they used to give away.

The consumers have not stopped using plastic, they are buying more instead. If only some more thought had gone into the whole plastic bag saga.

Shops should have been encouraged to change to paper carriers and oxy-biodegradable plastic bags, which disintegrate and do not release methane into the atmosphere.

I have been wanting to get this particular irritating issue off my chest for ages, but something more important has always taken priority.

However, the past week has been slow on meaty news and reading that Malta was ranked high in the quality of life league in an international survey set me off.

The analysis by International Living – a company that suggests easier and cheaper countries to people living in the US and the UK seeking to settle elsewhere – found Malta to be a very high scorer on its “Quality of life”, with an 84 per cent mark for its environment.

And it was our environment ranking that rankled.

Now don’t get me wrong, I do think that our quality of life here is pretty good compared to many other countries, but certainly not because of our environment.

Frankly, that stinks. It is all smells, bangs – summers are a nightmare, thanks to the daily, high explosives – bells and all kinds of irritating, intrusive noise from blaring car horns, barking dogs and loud music. Even the precious few peaceful gardens are being turned into noisy venues.

And it is not just the gardens. Valletta that used to be so beautifully deserted at night, now has night entertainment frequently laid on. And why?

To sweeten the access restrictions pill to the commercial sector. They will be organising all kinds of ‘Nottes’ in Mdina next.

Who needs silent cities? What is it about noise and brio that so many seem to be unable to live without?

Now I am not implying that there is no place for brio. Of course there should be activity and energy in localities, but there needs to be clear distinctions between residential and commercial zones and there should be a limit to the number of noisy activities held in an area.

For example, the New Year’s Eve street party in Floriana was a great idea.

But the government’s merging of the environment with commerce is concerning. For example, the Green Challenge and Local Enter-prise Awards presentations were held simultaneously and the Prime Minister doing the honours said the government was helping councils organise more activities at a local level to attract more Maltese and tourists to their locality, increasing local trade.

Increasing local trade means increasing the amount of traffic, congestion and noise, which are detrimental to the environment.

Yet Dr Gonzi said local councils were being financially supported to take part in schemes drawn up by the government to generate business and strengthen environmental culture.

The two are anything but complementary. Commercial activity is more likely to damage than strengthen environmental culture.

As for the smells, one cannot enjoy the drive along one of our most picturesque coast roads because of the appalling stench. And people living near aquaculture zones (fish farms) complain of dreadful odours in the summer.

There are three things I really miss from the big cities: museums, parks and the fact that residential areas are just that.

On the plus side, one can visit friends and family all over Malta in a short time and, even if our public transport needs a good overhaul, at least we do not have far to go if we have to use it.

On the minus side, having avoided the chore, ever since I got back to Malta in 1992, of waiting for the gas man and lugging gas cylinders, I have now had to join the army of women who have spent most of their married life waiting for yet another man to turn up!

To balance things out, I now spend the same amount of time going around switching off all my electrical appliances when I leave home as I used to spend going around checking all the windows, garden doors and setting the alarm in London.

The survey also gave Malta full marks (100 per cent) for freedom and safety, health (89 per cent) and very high scores for climate (95 per cent).

Despite the noise and air pollution and other niggly bits, on the whole we are better off than some. Our climate alone is amazing. While most of the world freezes, we are enjoying the balmiest of weather. We certainly deserved the high rating on that score.

We are also safer than many other countries (it is all relative), despite the crazy driving.

And our health system, though not perfect, is far

better than in far richer countries.

In the economy and infrastructure categories, Malta was awarded 53 and 52 per cent respectively. The cost of living score for Malta stood at 63 per cent.

These I think were fair; our infrastructure is where the country is lagging behind and our economy, like everywhere else, has taken quite a knock.

Part of the problem of why people are finding it so hard to believe we are better off is because politicians are always economical with the truth.

A few years back the Maltese were led to believe that we could all attain a very high standard of living. Reality has now kicked in and most people are discovering that, as always, your standard of living depends on how much you earn – or inherit.



pamelapacehansen@gmail.com