In my last posting, I wrote about recycling efforts in our community (“vanua”) in Fiji. Now Molly, our Culture and Community Affairs Coordinator, will share more about her experiences in the local villages. Take it away, Molly…
Ni Bula Vinaka to everyone from sunny Fiji – sunny now that cyclone season is over, that is. Before I started my work here at FIJI Water, I was based in rural Fijian communities for two years as a U.S. Peace Corps Environmental Volunteer, so I have some experience in Fijian waste management. Given that, I’m really thrilled with the progress we’ve made in a short time with these fairly simple initiatives.
It’s pretty exciting to be on the cutting edge of recycling here in Fiji, because for the most part, we’re working with a blank slate. Most rural families naturally practice reducing and reusing as a money-saving devices, craftily turning one person’s trash into another’s treasure. Gunny sacks and fabric scraps are sewn into throw rugs, tires are made into swings and planters, and glass and plastic bottles become handy containers.
When it comes time to disposal however, our work in the vanua has the potential to change the way our communities think about their recyclables. Just last weekend I participated in our local women’s netball club weekly tournament, as part of the FIJI Water employee team.
Cartons of FIJI Water were everywhere, and bottles were swigged greedily as we played under the hot equatorial sun. It was music to my ears, however, to hear throughout the day small children, mothers, and the other members of the team saying to each other ‘Recycle please, everybody.’ ‘Don’t forget to save the bottles!’ ‘Bring that bottle back over here, we can recycle it.’ They said it in Fijian, of course, so forgive the rough translations, but I was elated to find that the message is catching on, and that I am no longer the lonely broken record.
Meanwhile at the plant, employees are regularly coming up to me at my desk to boast about all the bottles they return in a week. You’d think I was giving out gold stars! Recycling updates are part of our weekly staff meeting, and departments are lined up against one another and challenged to improve their participation in the program.
We also had a visit last week from the Vatukaloko Jr. Secondary School as they ran the round-the-island torch up to the factory as a prelude to the nationwide secondary school athletics meet in Suva. They ran in the uniforms they had earned through a month-long recycling drive held at the school, and as they prepare to compete, they can have pride knowing that FIJI Water is 100% behind them. 
It can be a challenge to establish new habits for a people who, even just 100 years ago, were using all natural, biodegradable materials for all of their everyday needs. Snacks which were once wrapped in banana leaves that could be recklessly discarded, now come in plastic wrappers and tins. The best tool we have is education, and to call upon people who live in a tiny corner of the planet to think of the larger picture. Bottle by bottle, we are doing our part to make Fiji a cleaner, greener place.
Highlights
