GIFF JOHNSON
Eight years ago, following passage by Nitijela of container deposit legislation, Majuro Atoll Waste Company launched recycling of aluminum cans, and plastic and glass bottles.
Now it’s embarking on a new pilot project to improve and expand its recycling and export program and is asking for community support to make it happen.
The recycling program since its inception at the end of 2018 has injected over $4.5 million into the Majuro economy by way of payments to those recycling cans and bottles. It has also removed a significant portion of Majuro’s solid waste from going into the main landfill at Batkan and from being littered around the atoll.
Around seven million cans and five million bottles are being recycled annually, with a high of 9.5 million cans in 2019 to a low of 6.5 million in 2024. Between 4.8 and 6.5 million plastic bottles have been recycled each year, according to MAWC and RMI EPA data provided to the Journal.
The new pilot project aims to export the large volume of plastic bottles to Taiwan.
“We are now processing the PET plastics as a pilot program through the assistance of the J-PRISM phase three project to export to Taiwan,” MAWC Operations Manager Jacqueline Lakmis told the Journal. “This will be added to the export program MAWC is currently doing for the aluminums and used lead acid batteries.”
J-PRISM is the Japanese Technical Cooperation Project for Promotion of Regional Initiative on Solid Waste Management in the Pacific Countries, which has partnered with MAWC and the RMI for many years.
MAWC wants its recycling customers to begin separating plastic bottles by color as well as ensuring they are clean.
“MAWC needs these (recyclable) materials to be segregated before they reach our staff,” Lakmis said. “We understand PET plastics come in many colors and the requirement is for customers to separate each color before they bring it to the MAWC.”
She said it will “help tremendously” on speeding the recycling process.
The three requirements for recycling plastic bottles doing forward:
- Bring whole container ensuring they are clean.
- Remove the lids or tops.
- Separate colors so that whites are together, blues are together and so forth.
MAWC data shows the volume of cans and bottles recycled the past eight years in Majuro.
