Collective approach

Singh: Container deposit scheme to help control marine pollution

ENVIRONMENT department director Sandeep Singh says 80 per cent of whatever is disposed of on land ends up in the sea.

She said the development of a container deposit legislation and scheme would go a long way towards reducing that.

Ms Singh made the comment after meeting with the country’s leading waste management firm, Waste Recyclers Fiji Ltd, last week.

“So with the container deposit scheme, we will also be able to control the amount of plastic and plastic products that end up in our oceans,” Ms Singh said.

“The department is also grateful to Waste Recyclers Fiji Ltd (WRFL) for all the environmentally friendly and recycling initiatives that they have been able to administer and achieve during the past 26 years of its existence.”

Waste Recyclers Fiji Ltd (WRFL) director and CEO Amitesh Deo said his organisation was pleased with the Department of Environment’s collective approach when it came to implementation of programs of national interest such as a bottle buyback system.

“Waste Recyclers Fiji Ltd is supportive of the DOE’s consultation process to guide the container deposit system as we believe that for the implementation to be successful, stakeholder views are critical,” he said.

Mr Deo said there was mutual concern that some stakeholders were developing programs without proper consultation processes.

“WRFL has a strong standing on local ownership of programs as it believes that sustainability of any concept must be hinged to a sense of ownership by the people of Fiji.

“It is very encouraging to hear the vision of DOE as it aligns with our principles of ‘Do No Harm’ and takes into account community considerations rather than a purely commercial perspective.”

Mr Deo said the discussions with the Department of Environment also centred on the need to have an independent data verification process as part of the container deposit system.

“WRFL is in favour of developing a monitoring and evaluation framework that will be part of the container deposit legislation and ensure that the data collection streams are meaningful and act as useful tools for policy development and decision-making.”

Mr Deo said WRFL was also partnering with the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Fiji Women’s Crisis Centre for a one week workshop for 14 informal women waste pickers from Lautoka on gender, human rights, legal literacy and financial literacy.

He said DOE would be an important partner for this workshop as it was aimed at empowering a vulnerable group in our society engaged in waste picking.