Local company Samoa Stationery and Books (S.S.A.B.) has established a partnership with Melbourne-based recycle firm Close the Loop to take in all discarded toner or ink from Samoa.

S.S.A.B Chief executive officer, Tofilau Fiti Leung Wai announced Thursday that through its newly established partnership with Close the Loop SSAB can now ship back any discarded toner or ink to their country of production.

“I acknowledge the support from Close the Loop in Melbourne Australia for opening this life changing opportunity for electronic waste to be shipped back for recycling and proper disposal,” Tofilau said in a statement.

Partners of the project and SSAB believe the partnership with Close the Loop is a big achievement and is another step forward for the E-waste Project run by S.S.A.B. since its initiation four years ago. 

Tofilau acknowledged the strong and ongoing support from valued partners of the project such as the International Labour Organisation, Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment (MNRE), Hewlett Packard (HP) Company, Ford Samoa, Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme (through Moana Taka Shipment) and SWIRE Shipping.

 “I believe the achievement today is the fruit of our dedication to the welfare of our people and keeping our environment free of electronic waste,” she said. 

“Thank you for your valuable support and contribution to this great cause; to save our environment for our future generations”.

The E-waste Project started in 2018 where only the HP toners and inks were accepted to be shipped out of Samoa through a partnership between SSAB and Hewlett Packard (HP), but provided the new endorsement from Close the Loop in Melbourne any ink and toner can now be shipped out of the country. 

The Manager for E-waste Project, Nancy Vito Alefosio credited God for opening new doors for this project and acknowledged the endorsement from Close the Loop and SPREP (through Moana Taka Shipment) in ensuring that the first ever full-container of discarded toners and inks gets shipped out of Samoa’s landfills. 

“I am humbled that the project has achieved this milestone and I’m grateful to all our valued partners,” she said. 

“This wouldn’t have come to fruition if it weren’t for their strong and continuous support. 

“It is a big thing to me, our C.E.O. Tofilau Fiti Leung Wai and S.S.A.B. because we understand that we have a corporate responsibility as one of the importers of electronic products.”

Tofilau added that she is proud of the work done by the Manager for the E-waste Project and the former Project Assistant  Rebecca Chadwick, particularly in driving, promoting and coordinating the E-waste project. 

“I applaud Nancy and Rebecca for their great work over the years. They contributed immensely to the successful story of today but our journey is far from what I had envisioned.

“We still need our community and stakeholders to work together with us and our partners. “We also urge our Government (M.N.R.E.) to assist with better coordination of the collection of used toners and inks. 

“We want to place our boxes of collection of used toners and inks in different locations in the Government; easier to collect, dismantle and pack for shipment.”