Old car parts, air condition units, refrigerators, fans, carpets, bottles were just some of the rubbish

The Ministry of Forests will be taking drastic measures to address the problem of illegal dumping of rubbish in the Colo-i-Suva Forest Reserve.

Minister for Forests, Osea Naiqamu and Acting Permanent Secretary for Forests, Bernadette Welch, led a clean-up campaign on Wednesday involving officers of the ministry through the main road leading up to the Colo-i-Suva Forestry Station.

They showed their deep concern on the amount of rubbish that piled up along the roads as well as into the forest reserve.

“People think that they can put their rubbish anywhere they want but this is illegal. There are garbage trucks available for collecting rubbish and if you live away from the town areas, there are proper ways to dispose your rubbish,” said Mr Naiqamu.

“This needs to stop because the Colo-i-Suva Forest Reserve is also a tourist attraction and we are not painting a good image if the first thing that the tourists see are the garbage bags and plastics strewn alongside the roads.

“We all need to work together to mitigate the negative effects of climate change and throwing rubbish into our forest reserve is not at all helping with our efforts.”

Old car parts, air condition units, refrigerators, fans, carpets, bottles were just some of the rubbish that were dumped into the forest reserve. Also included were plastics, sacks and garbage bags that were filled with rubbish of all sorts.

Vehicles that often commute along the Princes Road have been seen parking by the roadside and then driving off a few minutes later leaving behind their garbage bags.

The ministry will work with relevant authorities on putting in place deterrent measures that will see the end of illegal dumping of rubbish in the forest reserve.

Source: Ministry Of Forests

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