International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN), Waste Recycles Fiji (WRFL) and Pacific Recycling Foundation (PRF) wishes to announce a new partnership agreement that was signed today (Friday 26 August 2022).
Under this partnership, WRFL through its foundation arm PRF will implement key projects in the coming months. These projects include:
a. A feasibility study to establish possible networking to bring recyclables from outer islands and Vanua Levu to Viti Levu;
b. A pilot recycling project in a community and
c. Recycling awareness campaigns.
d. Support Women Community Pillars of Recycling of Vunato with PPEs
“IUCN Oceania Regional Director Mr. Mason Smith said this partnership was made possible through funding from the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation (Norad) and IUCNs Plastic Waste Free Islands (PWFI) project,”
Consultations with stakeholders around PWFIs solutions development activity identified a number of concepts and partners to trial these concepts. Along with a Policy Paper on Fiji’s proposed Deposit Refund Scheme for Beverage Containers for Fiji, WRFL was identified as a suitable partner to trial concepts to address plastic waste management in the informal waste sector and rural and remote communities,”
The grant activities also support policy recommendations identified through policy analysis consultations with stakeholders in Fiji and ensures some level of continuity and traction within the remaining PWFI project period.
“Fiji is the first of the three PWFI participating countries to commence on its grant activities with PWFI also looking at launching grant activities in the other participating countries Samoa and Vanuatu,” said Mr. Smith.
“This is an important partnership for us as it supports some of our key strategic goals,” said WRFL Director/CEO and PRF Founder Amitesh Deo.
“In particular, the feasibility study on connecting the outer islands and Vanua Levu to mainland Viti Levu is an important first step in capturing recyclables from different outer islands and maritime areas” said Mr. Deo.
While WRFL has been around for over 28 years and its core purpose is to ensure that recyclables do not end up in dumpsites or pollute the environment, most of its work concentrated on Viti Levu.
“The thought that so much recyclables, in particular, plastic, goes to outer islands in the form of packing materials or beverage containers and does not get retrieved for recycling has always been a cause for concern for us” said Mr Deo.
Most outer islands currently have no means to shipping their recyclables back to mainland Viti Levu and it is understood that most of these places either burn, bury or dump their recyclables out at sea.
“We have been in talks with experts in the maritime transportation network as well as individuals concerned with finding a solution for recyclable recovery from outer islands”
PRF will take the lead role with some expert consultants in identifying transportation solution of recyclables from outer islands. PRF will also carry out awareness and training on recycling and waste management for these outer islands.
“Training will be targeted to women’s groups and youth groups in particular areas as there has been a lot of interest from such groups in recent times to participate in recycling programs and to find solutions to deal with improper waste management in their areas,” said Mr. Deo
WRFL internal data also shows that women participation in recycling is usually greater and more consistent and thus to ensure sustainability to the concept, it invites women’s groups from outer island and maritime areas to participate in this feasibility study and to be part of the collection network.
“We also realize the value of effective partnership and the importance of alignment of values when forming partnership,” said Mr. Deo. “Therefore, we acknowledge IUCN to assist us in taking this forward as funding partners.
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