The world around us is not a landfill, but some people are treating it as such. The piece of land that has become a mini-landfill in Toamua-uta is a good example of how some people lack concern and continue to contribute to the degradation of our environment.

The first impact of the dumping is on the residents who live in the vicinity. A foul smell emanates from the rubbish, which allows flies and other disease-carrying animals, such as mosquitoes and rats, to breed, raising health concerns. It is detrimental to the environment and, in the long run, it spells disaster.

One resident highlighted that when it rains, water run-off from the pile of rubbish comes into their compound. The practice of dumping rubbish on the land has been going on for some time. The residents attested that they had made several calls to the authorities, but nothing was done. “We have contacted the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment and the Ministry of Health, but they come, take photos, and then we don’t hear back from them,” said a resident.

It was not until Wednesday that MNRE and its contractor were at the site clearing the rubbish, two days after the issue was highlighted in the newspaper. This is another case where the press has given voice to people impacted by illegal dumping by holding those in power accountable. In this case, raising concerns from residents about health and environmental damage, which, for some time, were not being heard.

The impact of dumping rubbish, as in the Toamua-uta case, goes far beyond making a piece of land look ugly.  Dumping rubbish causes air, water, and soil pollution through the release of toxic chemicals and microparticles. It also contributes to climate change, harms wildlife through ingestion and entanglement, degrades land, and creates health risks for humans due to disease-carrying pests and contaminated food and water sources. 

This behaviour is contrary to what we are preaching on the world stage about environmental degradation and climate change. Only if everyone put their litter in the bin or disposed of their rubbish properly, the world would be a much cleaner place. Things would be different if rubbish could be turned into cash; people would be more careful with it. The incentive that we keep our surroundings clean and keep the Earth healthy is not working. Some people are ignorant of the consequences of their actions.

As a small island nation, we have played a very small part in contributing to large-scale plastic pollution and greenhouse gas warming. It is also true that despite being the smallest contributors to climate change, we in the Pacific are feeling the brunt of it.

We are much smaller on every scale. It is only natural that our contribution to pollution and other factors leading to climate change is small. But it is not zero. We are still contributing to the death of our planet. No matter how small, we are still contributing to a place that could become uninhabitable for future generations.

Laws exist, but people are not following them. This problem‘s only solution is changing human behaviour.