Il-Fjuri Qarrieqa: Rethinking Waste, Protecting Nature

Following our successful participation in the European Week for Waste Reduction (EWWR) 2025, the Foundation for the Conservation of the Maltese Honey Bee has been encouraged to take part again this year. Our 2026 activity will bring together children’s literature, waste prevention and biodiversity awareness through an educational event at a school.

Last year, we participated with BeeScape@UM: Reusing Discarded Wood to Build Pollinator Homes. This initiative earned the Foundation the Associations Category award at the Malta Waste Reduction Awards, held on 22 April 2026. By repurposing wood removed from invasive alien species into bee hotels for pollinators, the project demonstrated how discarded materials could be put to good use while supporting nature.

This year’s event will serve two purposes: to officially launch our children’s book Il-Fjuri Qarrieqa written by Clare Azzopardi and Leanne Ellul and illustrated by Samuel Casha, at a school and to participate in EWWR 2026 through an activity that encourages students to rethink how waste is created and how it can be prevented.

EWWR 2026 takes place from 21 to 29 November and focuses on material sufficiency: considering what we truly need and avoiding unnecessary consumption. Our activity will explore this idea through the way we manage vegetation and care for the natural environment.

Il-Fjuri Qarrieqa highlights how the unnecessary removal of naturally occurring vegetation along rural passages can generate avoidable green waste. It also removes plants that are already adapted to local conditions and valuable to pollinators.

The story contrasts this with ornamental flowering plants in landscaped areas, such as roundabouts, where plants may be regularly replaced to maintain a particular appearance. Such replacement can create additional plant waste and increase the use of water and maintenance resources.

Through storytelling and discussion, students will be encouraged to consider whether intervention and replacement are always necessary. The activity will help them understand that reducing waste begins before anything reaches a bin: sometimes, it starts with recognising the value of what is already there.

Each participating student will receive a free copy of Il-Fjuri Qarrieqa, allowing the educational message to continue beyond the event and be shared with their families at home. Through this lasting resource, the Foundation aims to encourage thoughtful choices that reduce waste and help protect Malta’s biodiversity.

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