To counter limited landfill space, Seychellois neighbourhood will try waste-sorting project

The schedule used to collect waste in Perseverance will be changed and sorting will be reinforced. (File photo: Seychelles News Agency)

(Seychelles News Agency) - A waste-sorting and new collection system project is expected to start in Perseverance next year as part of efforts to better manage waste in Seychelles, which is fast becoming a major problem for the island nation.

The chief executive of the Land Waste Management Agency (LWMA), Flavien Joubert, told SNA that in the past two years, discussions have been held on how to improve waste collection and integrate waste separation.  

"We will start the project in Perseverance, which will later be used as a model when the project will be replicated in other areas in Seychelles. At the moment, Perseverance is the densest residential area in Seychelles based on the number of people per kilometre square and we have huge problems when it comes to the accumulation of waste, and daily complaints from the community when it comes to stray dogs and vermin," said Joubert.

Camille Mondon, a consultant from Reunion -- a French overseas department -- has been working with LWMA through a Memorandum of Understanding between the Mayor of Victoria and La Possession in Reunion.

"Logistically it is easier to do it at Perseverance as there are areas with individual houses with pavements which facilitates such types of collections. This might not be a model that will be applicable for the whole of Seychelles because we do not necessarily have all of these advantages that we do at Perseverance. However, this is the first test and it allows there to be less waste on the bin sites if everyone will have their bin," said Mondon.

Joubert said the project will start in Perseverance, which will later be used as a model when it will be replicated in other areas in Seychelles. (File photo: Seychelles News Agency) Photo License: CC-BY

She explained that the schedule used to collect waste in Perseverance will be changed and sorting will be reinforced.

At the moment, waste all over Seychelles, a group of 115 islands in the western Indian Ocean, is collected on a daily basis and brought to the landfill. Aside from PETs bottles and cans that are redeemed to centres by informal collectors, no other waste sorting is being done.

"Nine hundred households will receive a 110-litre bin which will be used to dispose of household waste. To carry out waste sorting, we will be reinforcing the collection of PETs and cans by trying to mobilise redeem centres directly to the sites to encourage people to dispose of their recyclable waste," said Mondon.

"We also know that organic waste makes up a large percentage of waste in bins. As a mean to remove such waste from bins, we want to encourage people to start making compost, especially people who have individual houses," Mondon said.

She added that the improper disposal of bulk waste and green waste is another problem the agency faces

"More often we find electronic waste, old furniture and green waste such as branches being disposed at the bin sites. These are not waste that households produce on a daily basis and they take up a lot of space at the bin sites, posing a problem for the collectors. We need to find a way to collect them separately and in a more efficient and regular manner, maybe once per month," said Mondon.

Instead of daily waste collection, there will be a schedule, where different types of waste will be collected on different days. Through the pilot project, the LWMA will be able to establish if the system works in Seychelles and what challenges the agency might come across when having the public to sort their waste.