By Eleanor Gee
Plastic waste is rapidly increasing in Tongatapu, where people could do a lot more to reduce the amount of single use plastics they discard, especially during church conferences, says the Tapuhia Landfill Manager, Tevita Toli.
“Many years ago, the rubbish mainly consisted of other waste as well as green waste which decomposes. Now, it’s plastic, which is used in everything.”
While plastic doesn’t make up the majority of rubbish at Tapuhia, Tevita said it has grown over the years and is growing rapidly.
Plastic items such as bottles, cutlery, cups, plates, bags, and containers are visibly scattered throughout the landfill.
Tevita said on a typical day, seven rubbish trucks each take 5-7 loads per day to the dump (35-49 loads in total). Trip loads increase to 8-10 trips after natural disasters and during church conferences (56-70 loads in total)
Save money
Filimone Lapao’o, Senior Environmentalist at the Department of Environment, believes Tongans can lessen their use of single use plastic items.
During church conferences for example, Tongans tend to use a lot of plastic when serving food and drinks.
“Families serve food in plastic containers every day during the conference.”
He said his family was also involved in making and serving food but they did not use plastic goods. “We used stone plates instead and just washed them afterwards. It helped me save the money I would have spent on containers, and it also helps the environment.”
Illegal dumping
There are still issues with people dumping rubbish illegally in Tonga or burning rubbish at their homes.
Tevita says there is a lot of space at Tapuhia Landfill, which was designed with four cells. The first cell reached capacity last year but it took 15 years to fill. The second cell is currently being used, while the remaining cells may take between 50 to 100 years to fill.
“The landfill is going according to plan. But the people are still burning rubbish and still throwing away rubbish anywhere but the dump, because they couldn’t be bothered bringing it to the dump or they don’t want to pay for their rubbish.”
The Waste Authority charges $15 per month for weekly home rubbish collection but people are also allowed to take their rubbish directly to the Tapuhia dumpsite.
“We encourage people to do the right thing and bring their rubbish here.”
“But this time, we don’t accept the bigger rubbish such as fridges, construction material, bricks and stones at Tapuhia because it takes up a lot of space. Green waste can be disposed at people’s homes because it decomposes, which is good for the garden.”
The bigger rubbish can be disposed at a site set up in Ha‘ateiho.
The Waste Authority has also acquired plastic, glass, and green waste (wood) shredders to help lessen the space that consumer rubbish takes up at the dump.
