Lautoka City Council Collects $36K From Selling 121 Tonnes Of Compost

The Lautoka City Council has success­fully generated $36,000 from selling 121 tonnes of compost since 2011.

This information was shared by the coun­cil’s senior health inspector, Shalend Prem Singh, during the virtual launch of the Sec­ondary School Waste Management Cam­paign 2021 on Tuesday.

Mr Singh said the achievement was a proud moment for the council as it was dedicated to managing waste and encouraging all resi­dents to follow suit.

He said waste management was a pressing issue within all sectors of Lautoka and the issue was in the hands of each individual practising proper waste management.

“There are 498 households within Lautoka City practising home composting and we are also helped by the Government. We do regu­lar monitoring and we encourage our resi­dents to practise home-composting in their own backyards,” he said.

“Around 1.2 tonnes of waste are separated per day and then we take it to the Vunato Landfill site where we do composting. We have sold 121 tonnes of compost since 2011 and we have generated $36,000 of revenue just selling compost out of the waste from the market.”

He said all increasing waste amounts would result in negative impacts to the environ­ment and public health if not managed prop­erly.

“Some of the problems that we engage with in terms of improper waste management re­sults from throwing rubbish in the drains, creeks and this clogs up and causes flood­ing,” said Mr Singh.

“This is also a threat to public health being dengue fever. If we dispose of our waste care­lessly it can affect our health.”

Mr Singh added the council also worked with partners like the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), the Ministry of Environment and other agencies to curb the problem of improper waste management.