Kelera Ditaiki 
[Photo: KELERA DITAIKI]
Fiji and the Pacific are in the midst of a waste management crisis, says Pacific Recycling Foundation founder Amitesh Deo.
At this year’s Global Recycling Day event, grassroots recyclers and advocates are championing a community-led solution to the escalating waste management issue.
Deo says the issue is as much a human crisis as it is an environmental one.
Illegal dumping and a poor attitude towards recycling have escalated the waste crisis.
“We have all heard it, and we’ve all seen it. There is no denying it. The overflowing bins, the littered streets, the clogged waterways and drainages, the widespread open dumping and burning, and the trash tsunami experienced by coastal communities. We, Fiji and the Pacific, have a waste management crisis.”
Deo says the plan is built by experienced recyclers and aims to address the waste problem while supporting those who rely on recycling for their livelihood.
Minister for iTaukei Affairs Ifireimi Vasu says they are working closely with relevant stakeholders to ensure rural communities are introduced to proper waste management practices and encouraged to recycle instead of dumping.
“Today is about ensuring that everyone around us knows that waste management also has a human and environmental element.”
The solution model is being refined in partnership with academics to provide independent guidance as the initiative progresses.
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