A pioneering public-private partnership has the potential to become a national blueprint.
This is the view of Iwatani Makumo, Japan International Cooperation Agency’s (JICA) assistant resident representative in Fiji, while speaking of Sigatoka Town’s Return & Earn Centre.
Mr Makumo stressed the centre’s comprehensive approach to accept all brands of PET bottles and aluminium cans maximises the volume of recyclables diverted from landfills.
“As a result, we believe that it is highly desirable that more recyclables will be recycled than ever before, and that the time and effort of the people who collect and sort them will be eliminated,” he said.
“This is an advanced case in which the council and the private sector work together to operate the buy-back centre, and if this pilot project at Sigatoka is successful, it will be a great example for other councils to establish and operate the buy-back centres in the same way in the future.”
Mr Makumo said this would increase the amount of recycling and reduce the amount of garbage disposed of at the garbage disposal site.
“In total more than 30 JICA volunteers for waste management /environmental education have been dispatched to Fiji.”
Mr Makumo said these volunteers have been instrumental in raising awareness on solid waste management, with the Clean School Program being a good example of this.
“The Embassy of Japan has bolstered infrastructure by “supported councils with the provision of equipment such as garbage compactor trucks”.
Mr Makumo said JICA’s commitment continues through significant technical cooperation projects, notably the “Project for Promotion of Regional Initiative on Solid Waste Management in Pacific Island Countries,” known as J-PRISM.
“This initiative, running since 2012 and now in its third phase, actively promotes a “3R + Return system through public-private partnership.”
“Although JICA will continue to cooperate with Fiji in addressing its challenges together with various partners such as Coca-Cola and Mission Pacific, Japan also faces many challenges.”
