A group of volunteers organized by the Japan International Cooperation Agency gathered at the Valelevu grounds in Nasinu to clean up rubbish left behind by people at the Hibiscus festival yesterday.
Organizer Rina Kurumisawa says people are ignorant and continue to litter however, this initiative hopes to raise more awareness about keeping the environment clean.
More than 30 garbage bags filled with rubbish was collected by more than 10 JICA volunteers and 10 locals at the festival within two hours.
“We can see people littering during the festival even though the theme is 5R and JICA has been working with Fiji Government for quite long time, through technical-corporation and bringing volunteers, so we have strong view to support Fiji.”
Volunteers from JICA say they’re disappointed with people’s actions despite the theme of the festival focusing on the five R’s: Refuse, Reduce, Reuse, Re-purpose and Recycle.
JICA says they will gather more volunteers and organize similar clean-ups in other festivals to raise awareness on the need to dispose rubbish properly.
