The first shipment of about fifty tons of mostly cardboard, paper and plastic took place at the weekend and is now en route to delivery to a processing firm, Amcor, on Australia’s Sunshine Coast, near Brisbane.
The shipment is the result of the accumulation and collection of the solid waste for the past one and a half years.
Until now, such waste was simply dumped, since New Caledonia does not have the facilities to recycle locally.
Once recycled in Australia, the French Pacific territory’s waste would be re-sold in Australia in the shape of mostly paper and packaging by-product.
On New Caledonia’s side, a new company, Mont Dore Environment, has been set up to manage the waste collection and exports
As part of the deal, Mont Dore Environment gets a price of $65 per ton, Jacques Fayolle, a former ANZ Pacific executive now residing in Australia, who helped broker the deal with Amcor, told Radio Australia’s Pacific Beat.
However, the mere cost of shipping is still well above the sum: $272 per ton.
As a result, the difference is still currently being taken care of by Mont Dore’s municipality, mainly out of an overarching concern for the environment, rather than the cost, Mont Dore Environment Director Victor David stressed.
