Lautoka City Council Begins Search For Alternative Dump Site
“We have started looking at alternatives and one of the top priorities is to look for an alternate site and have a system set up similar to the Naboro landfill site.
Thursday 21 April 2022 | 14:50
The Vunato Dump Site will reach its full capacity in the next 10 to 12 years.
This was revealed by the Lautoka City Council chief executive officer, Mohammed Anees Khan.
The council is already in search of an alternative.
Related stories
Mr Khan made this statement during their submission to the Standing Committee on Public Accounts on the 2018 to 2019 Audit Report on Municipal Councils from the Lautoka City Council (LCC) yesterday after being queried by committee member and Member of Parliament, Aseri Radrodro on the status of the dump site.
He said the council owned and operated the Vunato Rubbish Dump servicing the Lautoka and Nadi ratepayers including collecting commercial garbage from some resorts and outer island resorts.
“We have about 70 tonnes of garbage coming in per month so in terms of continuity, we expect that in another 10 to 12 years the Vunato Rubbish Dump will reach its capacity,” said Mr Khan.
“We have started looking at alternatives and one of the top priorities is to look for an alternate site and have a system set up similar to the Naboro landfill site.
“We have had a meeting with the Vitogo Vanua last month and they have identified two places and we have asked them to give us more details of the area so that we can do a site visit and look at the suitability.”
He said alongside this, the council was also working with school students in spreading awareness on the 3R’s project.
Mr Radrodro further questioned Mr Khan on the burning of the dump site and whether the council had solutions in place to stop the recurrence.
Mr Khan responded saying the major cause of the dump site fires over the last few years was because of arson.
“Mainly the pickers who want to pick scrap metals. It’s very easy to do away with organic rubbish and pick metals,” he said.
“We have a bulldozer and an excavator on site that can be used to spread out any burnt material. We had considered fencing the entire area, but then it is a very irregular shape,” he added.
