“Over the past century, humans have produced approximately 10 billion tonnes of plastic. Of this, approximately 6 billion tonnes are either sitting in landfill sites or somewhere in the natural environment”.
This was highlighted by the Attorney-General and Minister responsible for climate change, Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum, during the launch of the Reverse Vending Machines (RVMs) and the BOOLA App in partnership with FijiCare Insurance Limited last night.
The Attorney-General Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum praised FijiCare for their innovative approach to recycling and for being one of the first private companies in Fiji to engage in a recycling initiative. He reiterated the importance of developing a social responsibility for the proper disposal of plastic bottles and aluminium cans to bring Fiji closer to a progressive, circular economy where waste can become a valuable resource.
FijiCare Executive Director, Mr Avi Raju, explained that the RVMs use artificial intelligence to detect the type, size and brand of container recycled and separate them into aluminium and plastic bottles. For every plastic bottle or aluminium can deposited into the RVM, digital points will be awarded via a QR code which can be scanned using the BOOLA app and redeemed for prizes like mobile talk-time, free diabetes or hypertension checks, bundled micro-insurance packages or digital gadgets.