The Australian High Commis­sioner to Fiji, John Feakes says educating children on managing waste is important.

Mr Feakes offi­ciated at the vir­tual launch of the Secondary School Waste Management Campaign 2021 which was joined by secondary school students from around the country yesterday.

This campaign is a result of a re­mote partnership between the Aus­tralian National University (ANU), Science Circus Pacific (SCP) and the University of Fiji.

Mr Feakes said this was an op­portune time to give an idea to the participants and students to better their understanding on how to man­age waste like recycling, reusing as well as developing innovative new waste management techniques.

He said environment educational waste management is important for children as it will allow them to understand the financial and eco­logical burden of waste.

“It will also teach them to apply on ecological land on matters relat­ing to food diversion in their own homes and in their communities.”

He commended the University of Fiji and the ANU for their partner­ship in engaging remotely to speak on and advocate about waste man­agement, especially in a time when the world was still experiencing the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Include Marginalized Communities says Deo

Director Growth and Marketing at the Waste Recyclers Fiji Pte Lim­ited, Joseph Inoke Deo says it is important to include marginalised communities in environment sus­tainability.

Mr Deo also presented during the virtual launch of the Secondary School Waste Management Cam­paign 2021 where he said the com­pany was heavily involved with a number of marginalised communi­ties in Lautoka, Ba and Sigatoka.

He said the communities involved a lot of women who the company has been working with to claim re­cyclable items from the dump sites.

He said other marginalised com­munities that the company had tried involving were the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual or Transgender (LG­BTQ) and disabled community.

“This informal sector involves a lot of women who depend entirely on these dump sites for their living and working with these commu­nities enables us to refer them to other services for example, the Fiji Women’s Crisis Centre (FWCC) and assisting them in other services they are not able to access,” he said.

He said these were communities that were not recognised in this in­dustry, but are working to support the recycling industry in Fiji.

Mr Deo said Waste Recyclers Fiji Pte Limited focus and identity was solely for the collection of recycla­bles here in Fiji.

“Not on any other type of waste as we want to strictly keep to our identity, we don’t do wet waste, green waste or any other rubbish, we only focus on what is recycla­ble,” he added.