Tongan government, and community encourage keeping clean, green
Greater efforts are being made to get people in Tonga involved in keeping the country clean, green and beautiful.
Transcript
Greater efforts are being made to get people in Tonga involved in keeping the country clean, green and beautiful.
The Tongan government and community groups have been working to harness the same energy and national pride that cleaned up Tonga for the Coronation, and to make this a part of daily life.
Leilani Momoisea reports.
The Rotary Club of Nuku'alofa has been running a 'Clean and Green' campaign to encourage people to appreciate the environment. It's president, Peter Poulson, says people need to know that plastic, glass and tins are not biodegradable, and are bad for the environment. Mr Poulson says one of their areas of focus is reducing the use of plastic bags, which are often seen blowing around on the streets, or hanging off trees. He says to try and reduce the amount of plastic people use, they have been disrupting reusable bags. But he says they have been careful to educate people on why they should use the bags, before giving them away.
PETER POULSON: So the idea of these bags is a very focused approach. To say OK, if you're going shopping, take your bag with you and it's reusable for many years. Put your shopping straight into it, avoid the need for small plastic bags which you then throw away when you get home, and this is a small part of trying to make the place cleaner and greener.
The Nuku'alofa club had help from the Rotary Club of Rotorua in New Zealand, who sponsored the production of 5,000 reusable bags for Tonga. A past president of the club, John Murray, who was involved in the fundraising for the bags, says it is a gratifying and worthwhile project.
JOHN MURRAY: Those of us that have been to the islands have seen that the disposal of waste and rubbish is something that has impacted on their environment and their lifestyles and everything, it's something that needed a lot of education about I think.
Earlier this year, the Tongan government endorsed the formation of a National Commission for a Clean Green Tonga, and the government this week launches it's own 'Clean Green Tonga' campaign. The initiative will work with community groups, schools and businesses to develop action plans on how they can make a difference in their communities, and people are being encouraged to beautify their gardens. The Deputy Prime Minister, Siaosi Sovaleni, says the aim is to stop people from burning and dumping rubbish, and to start making a daily effort to take care of their homes and public areas. The interim CEO of the Waste Authority in Tonga, Tapu Panuve, says they want to make sure that Tonga is a more welcoming country, and that people pick up the rubbish around them.
TAPU PANUVE: It's about having a cleaner, greener, Tonga which will translate into a more healthier country for the people. At the start it will be about picking up rubbish and so forth but as we get into it, it will be about bringing about a cultural sea change in terms of the mindset of the Tongan people.
Tapu Panuve says while this will also benefit the tourism industry, people need to do this for themselves first.
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