Waste Management Consulting

Combating global pollution through sustainable waste solutions.

Vision

Zero recyclable waste to landfill throughout the developing world

THe Problem

In Fiji, the concept of waste management is an interesting one. There is some understanding of its benefits, and there are waste collection services that operate. However, there is a serious lack of options and transparency in its collection. Recycling requires transporting materials to specific locations during specific hours, waste collection services can be unreliable or expensive, recycling bins on the streets of tourist areas are not actually collected or are sent to landfill and for the vast majority of Fijians, rubbish burning is still the go-to method.
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Health effects

Lack of reliable waste disposal results in harmful, toxic air due to the burning of rubbish. This negatively affects the living conditions of people residing in high density urban areas, the cities which house the majority of the population. Families and young children are particularly susceptible to the negative health impacts of frequent burning rubbish.
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Social Impacts

Ineffective waste management creates an eyesore in cities, reduces the attractiveness of the locale for tourists/foreign investment and sucks productive time in removal or processing. Beachside and street side restaurants and hotels suffer from loss of customers due to the litter and burning outside. Workers in industries dependent on the environment, like scuba instructors depend on marine systems, suffer as their place of work deteriorates over time.
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Environmental degradation

Waste disposal that does exist in developing countries mostly results in landfill without any consideration of alternate methods. Within developing countries like Timor-Leste there is no concept of recycling let alone operational practice. At this stage there is no sustainable way to repurpose materials in Timor-Leste as an example.

HOW IT WORKS

Waste Management Consulting in Fiji will run for the first month in July. It will work to validate the assumption that people are willing to pay for a reliable recycling service and that it is possible to form a mutually beneficial partnership with the only company processing recyclable plastics, glass and cans on the island.

The hallmarks of success for the Waste Management Project in Fiji will look like two things: customer validation and ability to effectively dispose of the collected recyclable product. Customer validation will look like the ability to provide a service that customers are willing to pay for at a price that enables us to continue. This might look like an investigation into varied price points for communities, businesses and hotels and an analysis into the value proposition of supplying a recycling collection service. The ability to effectively dispose of collected recyclable product will likely mean forming a partnership with a company that currently is able to export recyclable product from Fiji to an offshore processor. Success in this area could also look like processing recyclables onshore ourselves or finding alternative partnership arrangements.

KEy Value Proposition

Reducing the amount of waste that ends up in our environment

by stopping it before it reaches streets, beaches and waterways and disposing of it responsibly.

Improving health

by removing the habit of burn waste from daily life in developing countries

Providing alternative waste management solutions

In some areas offering waste collection for the first time and in others, offering it at a reduced price or increased convenience – allowing the choice to do the responsible thing with recyclable materials to become an easy one.

WANT TO INTERN ON THIS PROJECT?

LOCATION

Fiji

DATES
PRICE

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