4/25/08
Recycling in the vanua
First things first: What is a “vanua”?
“Vanua” is the Fijian word for “community.” There are six villages that comprise the vanua in the region from which FIJI Water comes: Drauniivi, Togovere, Rabulu, Naseyani, Nananu, and the small settlement of Navunitivi.
As we too are part of the vanua, we work with the community in several ways in addition to our role as an employer, e.g., building and sponsoring schools, developing water access infrastructure, supporting local health clinics and more.
On the environmental front, this work includes recycling education and sponsorship. Our efforts have included:
- Providing a free case of product to FIJI Water employees at the bottling facility in return for every case”s worth of bottles they bring in, along with the usual weekly provision of one free case per employee.
- Conducting a recycling drive at the secondary school in Drauniivi. Students brought in aluminum cans, FIJI Water bottles, and other PET bottles to raise money for their school track uniforms. We’re looking at extending similar efforts on an ongoing basis, to encourage a habit of recycling and benefit local schools.
- Sponsoring the eight local women”s netball clubs in a clean up drive, and in return providing new balls for the clubs and trophies for their annual awards ceremony.
- Planning to situate outdoors recycling stations at the plant, local villages, and nearby towns, to serve as collection centers for recyclables.
Molly, our Culture and Community Affairs Coordinator, has been one of the driving forces behind these efforts and many other ways in which we serve the community. In our next blog posting, she’ll share more about recycling education efforts in Fiji.
Susie Gale says:
April 25th, 2008 at 11:24 pm
I visit the US fairly regularly, as I used to live in Hawaii – I was born in Africa and LOVE your water – I make a big effort to take some of your beautiful bottles home with me and have even managed to “peel” off one of your larger labels, which I now have on my glass shower room door in Cape Town, South Africa! Do you have any bumper stickers?? I also have cut off one of your small hibiscus logo, which I have put on the lid of my ibook. WHenever I can, I let people know how amazingly “soft” your water tastes – thank you and aloha, Susie
Tavenisa Diri says:
April 27th, 2008 at 9:44 pm
Congratulations Molly and Natural Waters of Viti Limited for the wonderful contribution you are making to the preservation of Fiji’s beautiful environment. Your recycling program is much needed throughout the Fiji Islands.
Keep up the good work
Mark says:
April 30th, 2008 at 1:09 pm
I have been drinking Fiji Water for several years now even though Northern California has several brands of mineral water due to its smooth taste and refreshing quality. Hats off to your local recycling plan…keep exporting Fiji Water – its the best of its type!
FIJI Green Gal says:
May 6th, 2008 at 1:24 am
Thank you all for your support! I’m glad to hear you enjoy FIJI Water’s unique taste and are proud of our efforts to care for the environment and our community in Fiji. Susie, we don’t have any bumper stickers, but I sure wish we did! It sounds like you’ve found some creative ways to make your own stickers, though. Nicely done!
Krikor Didonian says:
July 25th, 2008 at 3:19 pm
Is anyone paying attention? Why are you drinking bottled water that has traveled thousands of miles in plastic bottles. The madness of bottled water is becoming more and more apparent to all. San Francisco’s City Hall has banned bottled water from City functions. The energy that goes into making the bottles, the transportation cost of that water traveling around the world and the waste of all that plastic a fraction of which gets recycled, some of it ends up in the oceans chocking the very ecosystems that surround the island of Fiji. Pacific garbage patch, trash vortex, gyre are but a few of the names used for the giant plastic mass floating in the Pacific. Your decisions impact the world you live in and make it better or worse place for you and others including other species. Most of the people in the US have ample access to good water and do not need to buy bottled water.
From Treehugger.com
treehugger.com ó The production of one liter bottle of Fiji water uses 26 times more water than the bottle contains. Twenty-six! The production also consumes almost one kilogram of fossil fuel, and emits over one pound of CO2.
I am sure this will not be posted on this website as it is not fuzzy and does not compliment Fiji Water or any bottled water for that matter.