Pilot project to recycle 5 and 12-litre PET bottles on La Digue |28 September 2023

(L to r) Mr Kinlock, Mrs Dubignon, Mr Servina and Mr Loizeau during the press conference yesterday

Collection of bottles start tomorrow

As part of the Clean Up the World activities, the environment department in collaboration with the Land Waste and Management Agency (LWMA), Sodepak and METALUco (Sey) (Pty) Ltd will be undertaking a buy-back activity of 5 and 12-litre PET bottles on La Digue.

The collection will be conducted on a door to door basis tomorrow, Friday September 29 and Saturday September 30. Customers will receive R1 per PET bottle and payment will be made a later date.

In a press conference yesterday afternoon,the senior public relations officer for environment, Linne Dubignon, said that the pilot phase will determine how they will target Mahé and Praslin.

“We have chosen La Digue for the project because the PET bottles are not included in the redeemable scheme and we have received many complaints that it is not worth collecting and redeeming these bottles from the people of La Digue thus the ministry has decided to buy the bottles at a price which will encourage them to participate in recycling rather than discarding them on the landfill which has also accumulated,” said Mrs Dubignon. 
In addition she also mentioned that with the small population of the island the pilot project will be more manageable.

“The trial period will also determine how we review our regulations so that we can introduce an acceptable fee which will motivate people to collect these bottles,” mentioned Mrs Dubignon.

She added that after the trial they will meet up again with their stakeholders and partners to discuss on how to re-incorporate other PET bottles in the recycling system and see how they can improve that system to promote more participation from the public.

The director for waste management and standards at the environment department, Federick Kinlock, mentioned that the door to door collection will go from 9am until 3pm.

“We are encouraging all people on La Digue to book their appointment on 2533752 and 2724591 for us to come and collect the bottles,” Mr Kinlock said.

“After visiting the houses and counting the bottles, we will issue the owners with an invoice detailing all information of the transaction,” mentioned Mr Kinlock.

Partnering with the department of environment is METALUco (Sey) (Pty) Ltd, a local metal recycling and trading company who has been in operation for over 10 years. The recycling company will be pressing the collected PET bottles for export.

The owner of METALUco, Charles Loizeau, mentioned that he was approached by the department of environment for this project and their role in this activity is to press the collected bottles for it to be transported to Mahé.

“We already have equipment on La Digue as we are involved in another project with LWMA, it will be easier to  press these bottles of those sizes and put them into bundles which will be easier for transportation,” said Mr Loizeau.

He added that these bundles will be specific as it will be easier to know the number of bottles in a build. He added that exporting the bundles will not be an issue as they have international partners in this field.

The senior communications officer for LWMA, Terry Servina, said that the activity will coincide with the Clean Up the World and reiterated that the campaign has been extended to September celebrating the 25 years of Seychelles’ involvement in the campaign.

“With our theme cleanliness is our responsibility we are seeking different ways to educate the public on reducing and recycling and together with our partners we are combining our efforts in reducing these PET bottles on La Digue.”

He said that this activity will help in decentralising their services and it opens doors for future similar projects where they will continue to reach out to the community as they do not want to do it alone. 

Text & photo by Neil Sirame