ABOUT US
Home Page
Where We Are
About TNZBA
Business in Tonga
Contact Us

VISITING TONGA
Places to Stay/Eat
Things to Do
Choir Trips
Mountain Biking
Working Holidays

SERVICES
Car Rentals
Signwriting
Equipment Hire

WASTE MANAGEMENT
Waste Services
New Landfill
Nuku`alofa Streets
The Future

- - - This project is currently inactive, but is here for your reference - - -

We have taken on this project for a short-term trial, after the government employed workers took voluntary redundancy. We sweep and pick up rubbish by hand every morning, six days a week, at the present time, on two of the main streets of Nuku`alofa.

It is very difficult to keep these areas clean as the population visiting the city do not care about keeping the place clean. Rubbish is thrown carelessly and deliberately on the ground from pedestrians and drivers - which all ends up on the streets and in the gutters and drains.

A truck with a street sweeper and vacuum on it would be of great assistance, but cost-wise, our small business cannot afford an item like this, and we cannot see any Aid-donor funding such a vehicle to a private sector business very concerned about the cleaniness of Tongatapu. (although such a plan would be extremely effective at cleaning up the country)

What is sweeped and picked up:

  ■ 75 litres of mud and/or dirt
  ■ Sheoak, Toa and small tree leaves
  ■ Used ATM dockets
  ■ Glass bottles, many beer but also spirits
  ■ Plastic bags
  ■ Aluminum foil with remains of curry "kai kale"
  ■ Takeaway meal containers, often with uneaten food
  ■ Soft drink cans (aluminum and plastic)
  ■ Plastic pet bottles
  ■ Cigarette butts in abundance
  ■ Lolly and sweet packaging
  ■ Icecream sticks
  ■ Used tissues and toilet paper
  ■ Broken shoes and sandals
  ■ Parts of cars and vans
  ■ Used mobile phone recharge cards (UCall & Tonfon)
  ■ Broken coconut shells
  ■ Miscellaneous refuse

We also try in vain to keep clean one small park area, and empty two public rubbish bins daily. As we do the street cleanup early in the daylight morning hours, we get many thank yous "Malo" from lots of the people arriving to Nuku`alofa for work. Thanks and praise for a good job makes doing this task worthwhile for our staff. Please encourage tidy practices whenever possible!