The Government Ministry with oversight over Apia's waste management system has admitted rubbish has not being collected in a number of areas and apologised. 

The office of the Minister of Natural Resources, Environment and Tourism, in a post on its official Facebook page on Thursday, says it might appear that contractors are not doing the rubbish collection but it is due to the high volume of waste generated by each household.

The Minister's Office said following "some concerns raised by the public on waste collections over the public holiday period", the Waste Management unit of the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, along with the contractors for each zone around Upolu undertook another follow-up collection on Thursday from Falelatai in the west to Aleipata in the east as well as Falealili and the south.

"These areas usually have one collection a week. Around the town area has two collections a week," reads the statement that posted on the Office's Facebook page. 

"Unfortunately, due to the high volume of waste generated in every household, it might appear that the contractors are not doing the collection. 

"For those areas that were genuinely not collected, we apologise and ensure to have the contractors adhere to the conditions of their contracts."

The social media statement from the Office of the Minister, Toeolesulusulu Cedric Schuster, did not make any reference to the coverage of rubbish build-up in selected suburbs in Apia by the Samoa Observer in the Wednesday 4 January 2023 edition.

This newspaper confirmed the build up of rubbish in selected suburbs in Apia last Friday and also included pictures of selected residential rubbish collection points in the Samoan capital.