Samoa: Respecting the Mangroves

Case Study: Household Waste

Click on the following links for further information about this case study:

Return to Contents

Rubbish is collected from households in Apia twice a week. The rubbish for collection is placed on high stands to stop scavenging dogs, pigs and chickens from spreading it around. Household waste is largely unsorted for recycling and due to lifestyle change, the waste now contains a high percentage of food and garden materials.

The villages outside the township of Apia, manage their own waste. The households have to dispose of their rubbish into the local environment. Animals eat much of the food waste and other organic matter rots into the ground. Some rubbish is burned, buried or composted but much of it is thrown into streams, riverbanks, the beaches and mangroves. As imported goods increase so too does the amount of waste. Materials such as plastic bags and containers, cans, tins, bottles and car related wastes are now seen in the open environment. The traditional practice of putting waste into a simple heap and letting nature take care of it, no longer works.

Recycling is not yet well established in Samoa. Government trials to collect and send aluminium cans away for recycling did not succeed, although there is a private business collecting cans. The recycling markets for other materials such as PET are too far away and the buying price is too low. However, glass drink bottles are successfully collected, washed and refilled. There is a refund of 30c for every glass Coke and Vailima bottle returned. Very few of these bottles end up in the dump or in the environment!

Next: Waste Impacts on Mangrove Areas