Recycled products an opportunity for Samoa, says businessman

“There are more cars on the roads and more plastic bottles than ever before but we don’t have the machines to process them here and to export them is expensive when you consider the small return. We need to diversify”

Samoa’s leading recycler says there is money to be made in car tyres and plastic bottles if the country can recycle them on-island.

Pacific Recycles Manager, Silafau Ioane Sio, says that tyres and plastic bottles have a low value on the recycling market so processing them on-island is the key to managing this growing waste problem in Samoa.

“There are more cars on the roads and more plastic bottles than ever before but we don’t have the machines to process them here and to export them is expensive when you consider the small return. We need to diversify.”

Silafau says he has been working with an Australian company to look at the viability of recycling in Samoa but the cost of the machines is too expensive without and investor or donor assistance.

“I’ve seen recycling companies in Japan make oil from plastic, and he says he would also like to see Container Deposit Legislation (CDL) brought into Samoa.”

This legislation would see importers paying a levy for each container imported. This cost would be passed onto the consumer who will receive a portion of that levy as a refund on the return of the container. The remaining part of the levy is often used to fund the cost of processing returned containers.

Already Ministry of Natural Resources and the Environment have attended trainings on implementing this type of legislation run by the

Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme (S.P.R.E.P).

S.P.R.E.P estimates that in the Pacific municipal solid waste is composed of 60 per cent organic, 35 per cent potentially recyclable - equaling about 760,000 tonnes per year – and five per cent categorized as other.

Palau has had its legislation since 2011.

One of the unique features of that legislation in Palau is the high deposit per container (US10c), which allows the government to refund, operate and save extra money at the "Recycling Fund" to cover the expenses of waste management activities.

Since bringing container deposit legislation Palau, Yap, Federated States of Micronesia and Kiribati have recycled more than 37.2 million containers. It has also seen positive spin-offs in the way of business development, job creation, less waste to landfill and less litter.

Pacific Recycles handles about 25 per cent of total recyclable waste in Samoa, according to Silafau.

The private company has cages for bottle and can collection at sites around central Upolu including a number of schools. It also regularly receives recyclables from people who sort through Tafaigata Landfill.

“Some schools such as Samoa Primary, Robert Louis Stevenson and Fa’atuatua are very good with their segregation. I think it is part of their environmental education.”

Asked if he was open to the idea of village collection programmes for cash, he said he was happy to take enquiries from rural villages. “I guess for them it is a little bit of income and it also deals with a litter problem.”

Pacific Recycles started seven years ago with a staff of four and now has a staff of 23 and an office in Savaii as well. The recycler also handles scrap metal, aluminum cans and plastic bottles from Tokelau.