Pacific Recycling Foundation and Waste Recyclers Fiji Limited in partnership with the International Union for Conservation of Nature, launched the Pilot Recycling Project in Kabutri Drive, Koronivia in the fourth quarter of 2022.

Similar to the ROG Ambassadors program, this community-led project is driven by 15 recycling advocates who were provided with in-house training on recycling and waste management.

The “I Recycle Hub” was also installed in this community.

The project has been designed to change mindsets and behaviour towards proper waste management and recycling as well as to address the ever-growing problem of recyclables ending up in waterways.

Kabutri Drive community has 140 residents with more than 40 homes. 80% of these residents were not practicing any form of recycling before the implementation of the project.

Much of this community’s waste was either buried, burnt or collected once a week by the relevant municipal council to be taken to Fiji’s only landfill.

This project is also aimed at impacting municipal councils in rethinking waste collection strategies and ensuring that recyclables are redirected to proper recycling setups.

This will create a culture of recycling and interventions for waste management that can be adopted by other communities.

PRF will collect critical data to aid in the scaling up of recycling projects in Fiji and contribute to the development of a core blueprint for other recycling projects in the region.

These critical data will include:

• Lessons learned;
• Effectiveness of our training program;
• Challenges faced;
• Gender perspective of waste management and recycling;
• Community engagement and participation.