From the farm to the table, then back to farm – that’s a new programme in the making that will take food waste from Samoa’s hotels and turn it into compost for farmers.
The programme, which is still being designed, comes on the back of an audit on how hotels were managing their waste. The audit was performed by Samoa’s Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment (MNRE), the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP).
SPREP Hazardous Waste Management Adviser, Dr. Frank Griffin, says the composting programme is a great example of turning waste into a value-added product.
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“The composting programme will also help take the pressure off the Tafaigata Landfill, which was built in the late 1990s, and, while it was predicted that the first section would take 12 years to fill – it took six.”
Women in Business Development Inc executive director, Adimaimalaga Tafuna’i says the organisation was thrilled with the approach taken by the environmental agencies.
“We have always been a keen advocate of large-scale composting as a way to help our farmers produce better crops and as a way to protect our soils from floods and droughts.
“By working with hoteliers, we can now develop a consistent supply that will complement our garden waste.”
This week the three environmental agencies distributed bins to 23 hoteliers to help them separate their waste. Each hotelier was also invited to contact Women in Business Development to join the compost pilot.
The hotels were also given guidance on what type of green waste Women in Business Development could process such as: all cooked or raw organic waste including coffee grounds and tea bags, and egg shells but not meat products including bones, oils and fats, which should be put in the designated rubbish bin.
Vaea Hotel owner Dean Johnston says he welcomes the composting programme and proposed the collection of larger green waste such as hedge clippings.
“I would also like to see something done about public littering. Everyday, especially when school is in, we have to collect all the rubbish that children are throwing on the ground,” says Johnston. “It’s about education.”
“You also see people throwing rubbish out of taxis and buses. There should be fines for that.”
MNRE and SPREP both offered to assist hoteliers develop waste management plans.
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