Perseverance districts to test new household waste management measures |08 September 2020

Samples of the bins to be used for the project (Photo: Thomas Meriton)

The Landscape and Waste Management Agency (LWMA), the agency mandated to oversee waste management in the country, has chosen the two districts at Perseverance to test new household waste management measures.

The project involves changes to the waste collection system to bring about waste separation, collection of recyclable materials and composting.

A public meeting with the residents was organised last week at Pam’s Catering at Perseverance 2 to explain the new measures proposed.

The meeting was facilitated by the chief executive of LWMA, Flavien Joubert, and deputy chief executive Rahul Mangroo.

Currently there are 903 individual houses and 496 apartments in both districts combined on 90 hectares of land.

“This makes the districts the highest population density in Seychelles. The management of waste is becoming a real nuisance in these two districts. This project was announced a year back at the National Assembly to put in place a new system of addressing the waste management at Perseverance and also addressing other national concerns. But we are starting with the two districts at Perseverance as we found out that bin sites are insufficient and overloaded. There are no appropriated wastes (green, bulky, e-wastes, big cardboard…); there are theft/damages to bins which causes proliferation of pests (rats, dogs …) and odours,” Mr Joubert noted.

What will the LWMA implement at Perseverance? “Basically, all individual households will receive a bin and also a calendar for waste collection with precise details of what type of materials will be collected on the days where bins are not collected. This means there will be waste sorting and a cleaner system for waste collection for individual households. For the blocs, we are going to improve on the number of bins that is available by increasing the number of bin sites and also provide them with another type of calendar when they can deposit their other types of waste,” explained Mr Joubert.

He also noted that they are starting at Perseverance due to its set-up and it is relatively easy compared to other places.

“We would like to move to other areas in Seychelles and explore various options from what we have right now which is based on every type of waste every single day. This project is due to start in the first quarter of 2021 and we are right now having meetings with the residents to gather their views and suggestions. After that we will call out for contractors and then we will implement the project fully,” explained Mr Joubert.

The conditions for the household will be: provide one bin per household for free; the person will be responsible for the cleanliness of the bin; bin should be inside the property all the time except during the collection day and there will be a condition of agreement attached to it.

“We have currently two landfills at Perseverance, one full already and the other one at 60% of its capacity. LWMA is campaigning for a reduction of waste and how to properly manage waste on a national level. This will require the education of our citizens and also the responsibility and ownership of each one of us,” concluded Mr Joubert.

Vidya Gappy