Plastiki Pod
There are a number of environmental challenges facing Kiritimati’s inhabitants, including many waste management challenges. In 2010, the Plastiki visited Kiritimati and the crew spent two weeks understanding some of the issues firsthand. On an island that imports the vast majority of its products and with very few areas to use for landfill (63% of the island is an Australian national park) there is a need to find innovative ways to recycle waste.
The island approached us with an idea to work with island schools to tackle the problem of the way children deal with waste in and around their schools. The Headmasters/ Headmistresses of the island schools have joined the project committee together with representatives from the Ministries responsible for the island’s waste management. The first step has been to initiate school clean-up campaigns and a grant was awarded to provide prizes – gardening equipment and resources – as an incentive.
“Providing the local communities with the tools and education on successful ecological, environmental, social and economic endeavours may go a little way for the community to find solutions to these problems.”