Development Of Container Recycling System

Government Approves UNDP Assistance For Development Of Container Recycling System

SUVA, April 1, 2010 – The Government of Fiji have agreed to the establishment of a Deposit and Refund Beverage container recycling system which will be set up with the assistance of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).

This means, plastic bottles in Fiji will be collected and recycled under Container Deposit Legislation (CDL) to be developed this year where people may sell their plastic bottles being collected for recycling.

This new project was signed today at the Ministry of National Planning office, Ro Lalabalavu House, by the UNDP Resident Representative, Knut Ostby together with the Permanent Secretary (PS) for National Planning, Pita Wise and the Acting Director, Department of Environment, Jope Davetanivalu.

“Deposit and refund recycling systems, using Container Deposit Legislation (CDL), is a first for Fiji and we are proud to be working with UNDP on this for the purpose of waste resource recovery,” the PS National Planning, Mr Wise said.

Fiji consumes 50 million beverage containers every year and these items are in very large part easily recyclable and can be recovered from the waste stream. Currently, the vast majority either go to landfill which is a cost to the local government or they are burnt in backyards or thrown away as litter.

“With the introduction of this new system of depositing and refunding recycling of plastic bottles, Fiji will benefit immensely from less disposal of un-necessary garbage thus being able to manage solid waste in the environment,” the UNDP Resident Representative, Mr Ostby said.

CDL uses Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) economic tools to maintain a dollar value of the waste to assist recovery.

A study conducted by UNDP, showed that the best model to follow is that where the local beverage industry operates the logistics of the system through a Managing Agency which will be managed under the Environment Management Act 2005.

Acting Director Environment, Mr Davetanivalu said a Project Management Unit will be first set up to manage the day to day project activities and eventually a Managing Agency will be established to operate the deposit and refund system.

UNDP has previously assisted Kiribati and the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM), to establish commercially self-sustaining recycling operations such as these through the CDL system and they continue to operate successfully today.

ENDS

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