A pilot project on recycling in Kiribati is aiming to show that reusing and reselling cans, plastic and cardboard on a small island can be both profitable and sustainable.
The non profit group, the Foundation for the Peoples of the South Pacific is setting up a small recycling progamme in the Kiribati capital, Tarawa.
The aims of the project is to develop a container deposit system that would require a five cent fee to be paid when purchasing an aluminium can with four cents to be returned to the customer when recycled.
It is estimated that up to 20-thousand cans will be recycled daily and generate 45-thousand US dollars a year.
Other aspects of the project will be the reselling of plastic bottles and cardboard overseas which would generate 92-thousand dollars in income and create employment for 11 people.