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International Waters

Project

Strengthening the Management of Waste in Tonga

What is the problem?

A 2002 report outlining Tonga’s “Priority Environmental Concerns” says pollution from solid and liquid waste was the biggest environmental problem facing the country. The report recommended that immediate measures be taken to minimise the impacts of waste, particularly because of the urgent need to find ways to protect the freshwater lens lying under Tongatapu.

Sione Faka'osi, National Coordinator of the Tonga IWP

What is the Tonga IWP?

The Tonga International Waters Project (IWP) is working directly with the Tongatapu community of Nukuhetulu to try and provide practical lessons to improve the national management of both solid and liquid waste in Tonga . This collaborative project with the Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP) is also working closely with the AusAID “ Solid Waste Management Project is to improve the management, collection and disposal, of solid waste in Tonga”.

The project is currently building a modern sanitary landfill that should be in operation at the end of this year and the Government has an agreement with the NZODA for the remediation of the current dumpsite.

Background

Traditionally the Ministry of Health has been responsible for collecting and disposing of rubbish. This service has only been available to people at the main town centres of Nuku’alofa (Tongatapu), Pangai (Ha’apai), Neiafu (Vava’u) and ‘Ohonua (‘Eua). Householders using this service are charged a monthly collection fee of TOP$5.00 but the whole operation is heavily subsidized by the government.

Like all other rural villages around Tonga, there is no household waste collection and disposal service in the village of Nukuhetulu. Waste generated in the village from shopping or gardening has traditionally been burnt, buried in the backyard, or dumped in the mangroves on the edge of Fanga’uta lagoon just outside the village.
  

The priority activity for the IWP in Nukuhetulu has been to try to encourage the separation of waste at the household level through composting. IWP surveys found that over 90 per cent of Nukuhetulu households “waste” is organic material that could easily be composted and used to grow fruit and vegetables for the community. Diverting organic and recyclable “waste” will also help to make sure that only inorganic rubbish needs to be disposed of in the new the landfill.

The Tonga Community Development Trust has been working together with the IWP to show householders in Nukuhetulu how to produce natural compost, liquid fertiliser and how to save and propogate seedlings for home gardening. The Trust has been promoting composting as an effective alternative to the intensive of use of pesticides and other agricultural chemicals that are polluting the lagoon and water lens.

The IWP has been working with the Tonga Community Development Trust to promote composting

The project aims to have at least 80% of all households composting their green waste by the end of the project in December 2006.

With the construction of the new landfill Cabinet has recently decided to transfer responsibility for waste management to a new Waste Board. Within this new arrangement it is likely that the Environment Ministry will be expected to take a greater role in both monitoring and the overall management of solid waste. The new Waste Authority will be operated as a private company and it will be responsible for funding ongoing waste management operations.

The True Cost of Waste in Tonga

The Tonga IWP, says the project has recently initiated one of the region’s first studies into how much money Pacific island citizens could be losing as a result of poor waste management.

This economic valuation study is intended to help us understand the economic losses that could be avoided through improved waste management. The valuation should reveal who really suffers as a result of waste problems and how much it really costs householders and the Government – in terms of things like health problems and lost tourism opportunities.

The valuation is intended to help understand how the economic losses due to waste might be minimised, or even avoided, through better waste management. The IWP is also working with the Solid Waste Management Project to determine how much each household is willing to pay for a proper collection to be put in place.

These economic studies are a key component of the 2005 “Year of Action Against Waste”, a SPREP initiative to support countries strengthen capacity to decrease levels of solid waste. One of the core elements of the Year of Action is the finalisation of the Regional Solid Waste Management Strategy, considered a blueprint for solid waste management in the region.

Tonga’s economic valuation will provide an invaluable case study for countries and territories willing to undertake similar activities as part of the implementation of their national solid waste management action plans.