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International Waters Project

Strengthening the Management of Waste in Fiji’s Rural Communities

What is the Fiji International Waters Project?

The objective of the Fiji International Waters Project Fiji (IWPFJ) is to identify cost-effective ways to strengthen the management of solid and liquid waste in Fiji’s rural communities.

The Fiji IWP is managed by the Ministry of Local Government, Housing, Squatter Settlement and Environment in collaboration with the Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP).

The IWP is working with the villages of Vunisinu and Nalase located one hour north of Suva in the province of Rewa. These villages have a combined population of just over 200 people.  

The pilot project is intended to promote increased community involvement and responsibility for community-based waste reduction. It is hoped that the pilot community could model effective waste management systems for similar rural, coastal communities.

It is also hoped that the practical lessons from the IWP will assist in the development and implementation of solid & liquid waste management strategies for Fiji’s rural communities.

What is the problem?

The number of people living in Fiji’s rural and peri-urban areas is greater than the country’s urban population. However the Rural Local Authorities (RLA’s) do not have enough resources to provide adequate rubbish disposal services to these rural areas.

This has led to emergence of ‘mini dumps’, which are mostly located near waterways and in mangroves. Other popular methods of disposal include open burning and illegal dumping.

Most people don’t understand the impacts of improper waste management on human health and on the economy, or how to implement alternatives such as recycling and composting.

The Fiji IWP pilot communities of Vunisinu and Nalase had been throwing their rubbish in the mangroves and in the river that runs by the village. These open dumps are not covered and they include green waste, inorganic and hazardous waste (such as batteries). The waste stream survey at the pilot sites revealed that more than 80% of village “waste” actually consists of organic and recyclable material.

Fiji’s first environmentally “safe” landfill is expected to be operational at Naboro, near Suva, in 2005. However this landfill will not serve the many thousands of people living in Fiji’s rural communities.

There are overlaps in the existing legislation and there is no one agency with a clear accountability/responsibility for managing waste in Fiji. For example the Ministry of Health continues to promote a “burn and bury” approach, while the Department of Environment promotes composting, reuse, recycling not burning.

Effluent from septic tanks and pit latrines also contribute to the pollution loading of coastal waters. High levels of nutrient and faecal coliform not only impacts on the environment but on human health as well. For rural communities in sensitive low-lying areas with high water table such as the IWP pilot project site, compost toilets could be a useful solution.

Like human waste, Pig waste management is fast becoming a major contributor to the nutrient loadings in the coastal areas. In Fiji most of the pigpens are located beside the waterways.

What is the IWP doing to address these problems?

The IWF has been working with the villages of Vunisinu and Nalase to develop a waste management system that includes:

• Composting (kitchen/green waste)
• Recycling (P.E.T, lead-acid batteries, cardboards, papers and aluminium cans)
• Reducing the use of plastic bags by using cloth bags
• Reducing water pollution through composting human and pig waste.

When the pilot site was selected a Village Environment Committee (VEC) was formed that included representatives from Nalase and Vunisinu. Participatory workshops were used to help the communities identify the root causes of their environmental problems. After the communities identified waste as a priority issue they then set about developing and implementing a series of practical, low-cost, solutions.

The open dumps have been cleared and 46 out of 52 households are now composting organic material for their gardens. The IWP in collaboration with a private recycling company established a recycling centre for the villages and skip bins have been installed for collection of waste that cannot be recycled or composted.

At the moment each household is required to pay FJD5.00 per month for waste management and some villagers find it difficult to afford this amount. The IWP is now preparing a study to try and understand the ongoing economic viability of this system and working with RLA and the Ministry of Fijian Affairs to determine if there are any more cost-effective options. The communities have run some fundraising activities to pay for the waste collection services.

The IWP is also encouraging community members to use composting toilet as an environmentally safe alternative to their current pit/septic toilets. The IWP is supporting the introduction of a “wheelie-bin” composting toilet designed by the resident Peacecorps volunteer and funded by the Institute of Applied Sciences.

IWP is also working with the PeaceCorps volunteer, Secretariat of the Pacific Community, Ministry of Agriculture the University of the Western Sydney, and USP on developing solutions for composting pig waste.

At the community level the IWP has been successful in helping people to understand the impacts of improper waste management on their health and their quality of life, and how they can turn their “waste” into a valuable resource.

IWP is also supporting replication of the best-practises in waste reduction through the Ministry of Regional Development and Fijian Affairs and Ministry of Multi-ethnic Affairs through the community capacity building projects which is running in the 14 provinces of Fiji.

How is IWP contributing towards Fiji’s National Waste Strategy?

Fiji’s Department of Environment is keen to promote a more integrated waste management system where Government and the business sector can work together to make it easier for the public to minimise waste at source. An integrated approach would include economic instruments, public education, together with the threat of enforcement if people did not comply.

Fiji has a National Waste Management Committee but currently its plans are ad hoc and short term rather than strategic. At the national level the IWP is trying to show how the waste management solutions being piloted in Vunisinu and Nalase can be applied in other rural communities throughout Fiji. The IWP is trying to encourage more RLA involvement in waste management and the project is also contributing practical advice towards the development and implementation of national strategies for both solid and liquid waste.

The IWP is working with the Forum Secretariat and SPREP to conduct a study to evaluate the economic impacts of waste on things like human health.

IWP has developed a national recycling campaign to encourage the collection and disposal of recyclable material from Fiji’s rural and urban communities. There have also been discussions on the introduction of economic instruments such as levy and refund for returning items such as PET bottles and aluminium cans.