Pre-Christmas clean-up activity this weekend |16 December 2020

Minister Joubert

• R500,000 allocated for cleaning of Victoria

The Landscape & Waste Management Agency (LWMA), in collaboration with the Ministry of Agriculture, Climate Change and Environment (MACCE), is launching a pre-Christmas clean-up activity on December 18, 19 and 20, 2020.

The frequency of cleaning activities will be increased to four times a year in order to keep Seychelles clean.

This was announced by the Minister for Agriculture, Climate Change & Environment Flavien Joubert and the deputy chief executive of LWMA, Rahul Mangroo, yesterday at a press conference.

Usually, every year, a big clean-up campaign takes place in the country for the World Clean-Up Day in the third week of September. But as of now, the MACCE has planned to have various such activities during the year.

Minister Joubert noted that “now we will increase the frequency of clean-up activities to four times a year. We have also discussed with the Environmental Trust Fund and the MACCE will allocate R500,000 annually to the Mayor of Victoria in order to maintain a proper cleaning schedule in Victoria. At the same time we are asking businesses to contribute the equivalent fund to make sure that the cleaning activities are completed in Victoria and the town stays in a clean state”.

The minister also urged businesses in town to make sure they take care of their facades and the immediate area around their buildings and government will take care of the other aspects.

“We also refer to the public behaviour regarding waste management. We are asking the public not to dump large amounts of green waste, especially tree trunks, by the bin sites. We have seen the impact that this habit has caused and that leads to great inconvenience for people living nearby. The number of collection points is quite limited due to lack of space. Overall we are asking people to be more conscious about the waste they generate and make use of the facilities that are being offered specially in regards to landfill. Put in the extra effort and bring your wastes to the landfill and make all effort required to keep our country clean. On the government side, we are pushing for a cleaner Seychelles and these activities are only the start of such a venture,” stated Minister Joubert.

Talking about the recent clean-up campaign in Victoria, Minister Joubert noted that all garbage were collected by LWMA and a lot have been done.

“But there is still a lot to do. There are some issues that were not addressed such as cleaning of pavements. It will take us some time to get to the level required but we have to keep maintaining the cleaning activities.”

The MACCE has also an education programme on how to recycle materials and the public can contact the ministry for more information.

Four clean-up activities per year

There will be four clean-up activities per year and this will coincide with some national event. “We are starting this clean-up activity this week-end and we want the community to get heavily involved. This time the public are advised that they will have to arrange for their own transport to dump their garbage at the landfill which will be open and free of charge for the three days and it will be the same arrangement for the upcoming clean-up activities,” Mr Mangroo said.

Mr Mangroo also noted that they want the public to take on the responsibility of managing their waste and the public will be informed on the specific days for the disposal of green waste, tyres and glass waste. There will also be days when landfill disposal will be free for residents and non-profitable organisations. The calendar for 2021 will be one week before Easter, one week before Independence Day, the Clean-Up the World day and one week before Christmas.

Regarding the quality of products entering Seychelles, Minister Joubert noted that “currently the Energy Commission is doing an analysis on the types of product entering the country. It is not an easy thing and we need to start a conversation with our importers. Many times we speak about the quality of the products but did we really have a talk with the importers and bring to their attention the problems that are being faced by the consumers? Some importers might be conscious of these challenges whereas some are just aiming for profits. It is also about educating both our consumers and importers”.

The minister concluded the meeting by focusing on the change of mind set of residents and businesses on the need to reduce their waste production, engage in sound waste management practices and most importantly be responsible for their refuse.

Let us all rally for a cleaner Seychelles!

Vidya Gappy