ITS all about caring for the environment and ensuring Honiara City remains clean and from plastic wastes and other domestic garbage.
As part of a commitment to create a cleaner and healthier environment in the city and its surrounding communities, a project called ‘Prepaid Bag Initiative’ was launched last year and is now rolling out in many communities in Honiara.
This initiative, led by Honiara City Council (HCC) and Guadalcanal Provincial Government (GPG), supported by ADB, is working to address the growing waste collection challenges in Honiara and the surrounding residential areas.
Since its launch in late October 2024, the initiative has steadily gained interest amongst some of the pilot communities and slowly expanded into new communities.
For this project pink has been chosen as the official colour for the disposal waste bags.
According to the Prepaid Bag Team the initiative is to ensure wastes are collected on time and city residents are stress-free when it comes to disposal of their domestic wastes.
Its often a challenge for city residents to dispose their wastes at the right place and on time.
Only those who have access to private vehicles are able bring their wastes to a nearby collection point to dump their rubbish before the Honiara City Council (HCC) Collection Team collects them for proper disposal at the landfill.
Due to ongoing challenge face by most residents on where to dump waste, most of their wastes ended up in the rivers, streams, creeks, nearby bushes and holes.
Most of these wastes included cans, rubber products and plastics from food packaging, drinking bottles and solid wastes which are generated each day.
They are items and products bought from the shops.
Because of this challenge, the initiative came about and had transformed many communities in ensuring their wastes are properly stored and dumped.
The Prepaid Bag Team said, since the launch other communities have shown interest to sign-up and be part of the ‘pink bag’ movement.
The team also worked closely with the Honiara City Council (HCC) Solid Waste Management team to raise awareness about the initiative.
A recent awareness activities included a roadshow campaign at Rove Bulks Shop on Saturday, March 8, followed by a drive-through campaign and pamphlet distribution in Ngossi Valley, Tingge/Hatanga, and Agape communities on March 10.
The awareness campaigns were well received, with many residents expressing support for the Prepaid Bag System.
Heres how the Pink Bag Initiative Works;
– Pay a Coloured Pink Prepaid bag which is available at all Bulkshop and Payless shops in Honiara;
– Fill it up with your household wastes; and
-Leave it at the side of the road on your collection day for pick-up by contractors.
In most places, black waste bags are normally used.
But under this project, a pink bag has been used to identify the wastes.
This means when contractors passed through the residential areas and communities each week, they can pick up the waste bag once they spotted the pink bags.
The black bags are normally picked up by the Honiara City Council Waste Disposal team.
Since its inception, the Pink Bag initiative had made waste management easy and convenient for residents and communities in Honiara.
The project is now in its sixth months and has benefited a lot of residents, according to the Pink Bag Team.
Many communities have been urged to sign up and enjoy the benefits of having their garbage being picked up every week.
In Honiara, the Honiara City Council (HCC) is responsible for collecting rubbish but there also face many challenges which related in collection delay.
However, under this initiative, residents don’t have to worry much because contractors continue to visit their zones to pick up the wastes.
Through this initiative many families and household are able to manage their wastes and do not worry much about how to dispose off.
This project has shown the way that waste management can be achieved through such initiative. It also ensure dumping of wastes in our environment is reduced.
By MOFFAT MAMU
Solomon Star, Honiara
