People living on Tongatapu can now sort out their clean plastic and glass waste for recycling at Tapuhia Tip, with collection services starting on Saturday, April 30.

Tonga Waste Authority Manager Administration and Projects, Lola Liava’a Tonga said the recyclables will be collected every Saturday for free as a trial.

“This collection will be a special collection set apart from our normal general rubbish collection.”

Recycled waste accepted must be rinsed clean before sorting. Plastic includes empty drinking water bottles, shampoo bottles, plastic food jars and detergent containers and put in clear plastic bags if possible. Glass includes empty glass bottles such as alcohol bottles, food jars, and glass containers should be put in a cardboard box or a solid container ready for collection.

Recycled waste that still contains any liquid will not be accepted.

“This will be a new service for Tonga and it is important that people know how to sort their waste properly i.e to ensure it is not contaminated because it may damage the recycling machines.”

Tapuhia has five recycling machines including a plastic shredder, two glass crushers, and two plastic balers.

Lola said the plastic shredder machine can shred plastic bottles into plastic clippings, while the glass crushers can process glass bottles and turn into glass sand.

“These materials can be used for construction purposes and there are lots of other ways to use it as it is overseas.”

“The only issue is that Tonga does not have the capacity and technology to process all of it. But for now, I think it will be very useful for construction purposes.  They can also be mixed with cement and used to fix our roads.”

Meanwhile, the plastic baler machines can compress plastic waste into dense and compact bales.  

“Tonga does not have the capacity to process them [bales] here but there are plans to seek opportunities and talk with donor partners on ways to have them shipped out of Tonga. However, they are great to use to fence off an area or as a barrier.”

The recycling machines were funded by the Peace Corps Small Project Assistance (SPA), USAID U.S. Embassy (Fiji) Diplomatic Grants Program, and the Australian High Commission (Department of Foreign Affairs & Trade).

Tonga’s long-term goal is to have the financial capacity and technology to process all types of recyclables locally and use it to create other products.

“It will also save our landfill from reaching its capacity.”

“People need to also be aware of their environment, stop littering and illegally dumping their waste out in public.”

Collection points are listed in the table below: