SYRINGES are becoming an environmental issue in Fiji as a worrying national pattern of used syringes being carelessly dumped after use.
Environment Minister Lynda Tabuya said it had become a serious environmental threat linked to the country’s worsening drug crisis.
Ms Tabuya said used needles are increasingly being found in trash boom sites, waterways, coastal clean-ups, and household waste, showing unsafe disposal practices are becoming more common.
“It has been found on a few occasions at the trash boom site in Nabua,” she said.
She said the issue is no longer isolated but reflects a growing problem of improper disposal.
“Shows the type of people living within the community and the type of exercise conducted within the area.”
She said the situation was creating a serious environmental risk.
“They must be disposed of properly and separately from normal waste.”
She said the matter had been referred to the police and health ministry as the government works to establish the scale of the problem.
“Data on the syringes is provided to the police and health authorities.”
She said the findings were not only linked to injecting drug use but also to HIV concerns.
“It is a crisis.”
The government, she said, was responding through enforcement and health interventions.
“In terms of the supply problem, the police and the army are working hand in hand, but we also have to look at the demand problem.”
She said syringes in waste streams are already an environmental issue.
“It is already an environmental issue. We are finding them in that trash, in our household trash.”
She said agencies are working together on solutions, including proper hazardous waste disposal systems and harm reduction measures to prevent further environmental contamination.
