Sorting through rubbish at source and categorising piles may reduce the increasing mound of garbage at Lautoka’s Vunato landfill, says Japanese intern student Kokone Sugiyama.
Ms Sugiyama is a member of the Social Innovation Fiji, which often hosts groups of Japanese interns who research Fiji’s rubbish disposal issues while proposing possible solutions.
“What I do in my project is to bring university students in Fiji to the landfill and do a study tour,” Ms Sugiyama said.
“I used to think of bringing tourists to the landfill and doing a tourism tour. It is a good idea to share what is happening in the landfill because it’s a huge problem in Fiji. But I found out that the Fiji people, the youth here do not know about what is happening there and the people here have no opportunity to go to the landfill and see.
“So, I switched my project to bringing university students there. The good point of this project is letting the university students know what is actually happening and letting them think about what they can do for the future.”
Ms Sugiyama said she also engaged the landfill site’s waste pickers to be tour guides in an effort to better explain the inner workings of the site.
“I have already done tours, two of them were for USP students and one for University of Fiji.”
She said discussions were underway for another sustainable study program tour in September.
“So, maybe everyone in the city is responsible for the landfill problem but they actually don’t really know about it, so awareness and education about that is part of my goal.
“In the Vunato landfill, just plastic bottles from Fiji Water and Coca-Cola can be recycled, which means just 10 per cent of plastic bottles can be recycled.”
Ms Sugiyama said the other 90 per cent of plastic waste would remain at the landfill site.
