Harsh Lotiya Jun/ 4/ 2025 | 0

Fiji, and in particular its Western Division on the main island of Viti Levu, has a waste problem.

The provinces of Ra, Ba and Nadroga Navosa are serviced by four open dumpsites, three of which are leaking into mangrove and reef ecosystems.

The largest dumpsite, Vunato in Lautoka, appears to spill onto neighbouring land. The second largest dumpsite, servicing Sigatoka, has breached the Sigatoka Sand Dunes National Park.

These dumpsites are a priority threat to ocean, environmental and human health recognized in many of Fiji’s key policies and strategies. Because they are unlined dumpsites, they pollute nearby waterways, reefs and groundwater with hazardous wastes, leachate, and plastics. Waste at the dumpsites regularly catch fire, which releases carcinogenic fumes harmful to the health of nearby communities.

None of the dumpsites are prepared for the increases in extreme cyclones and flood events likely to occur because of climate change, which will make the risk of contamination to their surrounding environments that much higher.

The negative impact on local coral reefs is particularly important. The people of Fiji and Fiji’s tourism industry, which is responsible for most of our Foreign Exchange Earnings and 20% of Gross Domestic Product, rely heavily on healthy reef ecosystems as sources of food and income, and for protection against increasing natural disasters. But poor waste management, both from the dumpsites and from the rubbish dumped by people alongside roads and rivers, is one of the main local drivers poisoning in shore reef and mangrove ecosystems, which are vital marine breeding areas.

Vulavula Sara, a solution to Fiji’s urgent waste problem.

Vulavula Sara is a waste management and resource recovery solution, which a “sister” dumpsite rehabilitation programme, proposed by Matanataki Pte Ltd, a woman-founded business developer and emerging fund manager in Fiji, to solve the solid waste management problems of Fiji’s Western Division. The solution will not require any capital investment from Government, and will serve 350,000 Fijians and over 900,000 tourists who visit annually, ensuring no waste enters our inshore reef ecosystem and national parks again. The solution proposes a purpose-owned structure which will ensure, once investment has been paid back, that the solution – a vital piece of civic infrastructure – benefits the people of Fiji in perpetuity. Vulavula Sara will be locally owned by the users of the solution, and won’t be able to be sold to private or foreign interests.

Vulavula Sara means immaculate in Vosa Vakaviti, the Fijian language. It is a locally-owned, commercial, private sector driven waste management solution designed by Matanataki for the benefit of all Fijians.

Matanataki specialises in environmentally-focused business development and investment management. For the last five years Matanataki has been originating investment opportunities and is now raising the region’s first locally managed climate adaptation, gender equity fund, to provide the patient risk capital needed by Pacific companies who can contribute to the restoring health to Pacific reefs. The Vulavula Sara concept was conceived and developed under the banner of Matanataki Pte Ltd, in partnership with local stakeholders and solid waste and recycling experts from the region. Vulavula Sara will be critical climate resilient waste infrastructure, which will contribute to Fiji’s Nationally Determined Contributions to global climate change goals, as well as Fiji’s National Adaptation Plan. Serving the Western Division, it will be comprised of refuse Transfer Stations, collection trucks, and a central Materials Recycling Facility in the Nadi — Lautoka corridor. Subject to feasibility, there may also be a waste-to-biofuel facility for the conversion of organic wastes, in particular food waste, into heat and gas.

Vulavula Sara is proposed to have satellite Refuse Transfer Stations in Rakiraki, Tavua, Ba, Lomawai and Sigatoka where glass, tin and aluminium, cardboard and paper, PET, and polyethylene recyclables will be crushed and shredded, and where bulky recyclables (e.g., white goods and scrap metals) will be deposited by the public.

It will have its own fleet of trucks to transport waste from households and industry, as well as bulk recyclables from the Refuse Transfer Stations to the facility daily.

At a steady state, Vulavula Sara will have the capacity to collect and process around 130,000 tons of waste per year, which is equivalent to 40% of all waste currently produced in Fiji.

Vulavula Sara is supported by iTaukei (indigenous Fijian) landowners, who will be equity shareholders, and subject to the securing of grant funds, will be complimented by a not-for-profit collaboration of local stakeholders led by Matanataki to rehabilitate existing coastal legacy dumpsites in Ba, Labasa, Lautoka, Ovalau, Rakiraki, Savusavu, Sigatoka and Rotuma.

Vulavula Sara’s underlying magic is that we – the developers of this business and our team of solid waste and recycling experts – know Fijian waste better than any other company or consultant, local or foreign.

Together we have assembled a stellar team of Fijian and regional waste management experts and we are well on the way to raising much needed non-sovereign finance, which Matanataki, as investment managers will oversee the repayment of.

Creating a world class waste management and resource recovery system is only half of the solution. We also need to repair the damage done by the decades of dumping waste into poorly managed dumpsites. This is why Matanataki has also brought together a strong consortium of partners to create a solution, with appropriate financing, which serves the Fijian public and our precious ecosystem.

The establishment of Vulavula Sara, which must happen before any dumpsite rehabilitation takes place, will enable the closure and rehabilitation of the four open dumpsites in the west, including Vunato, the largest and most polluting, with any waste an recyclables which can be removed taken to the new facility. This will have huge benefits for the reefs, mangroves, and people affected by these dumpsites. Matanataki and our partners are working to raise grant funding for the dumpsite remediation work that will happen in coordination with Vulavula Sara.

For technical information about Vulavula Sara please contact Malakai Naiyaga (malakai@matanataki.com). If you are interested in Vulavula Sara as an investment opportunity please contact Jodi Smith (jodi@matanataki.com).

This article was written by Jodi Smith. She is a descendant of the first Chinese family in Fiji. As a child she would walk along the beaches of the Coral Coast collecting shells and driftwood. Today, she removes plastic bottles and nappies from the very same beaches. Following in the footsteps of her ancestors, who owned Fiji’s first general store and traded yasi (sandalwood) and beche-de-mer, she entered the private sector and became a business developer and fund manager.

Jodi is CEO of Matanataki, a Fijian-owned and women-led business development and investment management company that works in partnership with entrepreneurs and investors in the waste, agriculture, fisheries, and tourism sectors to create positive change for Fiji’s people, land and reefs. Matanataki is currently raising a US$50 million investment fund, Matanataki Pacific Fund 1, targeting a final closing in 2026.