Teacher's Notes Student Activities Return to Contents Rubbish is collected from households in Apia twice a week. The rubbish for collection is placed on high stands to stop scavenging dogs, pigs and chickens from spreading it around. Household waste is largely unsorted for recycling and due to lifestyle change, the waste now contains a high percentage of food and garden materials. The villages outside the township of Apia, manage their own waste. The households have to dispose of their rubbish into the local environment.
Animals eat much of the food waste and other organic matter rots into the ground.
Some rubbish is burned, buried or composted but much of it is thrown into streams, riverbanks, the beaches and mangroves. As imported goods increase so too does the amount of waste. Materials such as plastic bags and containers, cans, tins, bottles and car related wastes are now seen in the open environment. The traditional practice of putting waste into a simple heap and letting nature take care of it, no longer works. Recycling is not yet well established in Samoa.