A local recycling organisation is determined to find a solution to some of the challenges that they currently face when trying to export waste oil to countries abroad.

Nissan Samoa Managing Director, Morry Su’a, told the Samoa Observer in an interview recently that the storage of waste oil as part of the Samoa Waste Oil Management Programme (S.W.O.M.P.) would become a challenge over the years.

“This is a S.W.O.M.P. Project under Samoa Recycling Association and our company Nissan Samoa is one of the founding members of the S.W.R.M.A. and the reason why we had this project because we are currently bringing in vehicles and makes us feels like we had to do to dedicated to our community and also our environment,” said Ms Su’a.

“This is the first facility in Samoa that actually collects waste oil and we believed that there are more than five hundred thousand litres of waste oil out there. 

“This is only the second week of our collection but we have many companies on board and our facilities will be packed soon.”

The COVID-19 global pandemic has also become a barrier to the collection and shipping of waste oil which Ms Su’a says is a major challenge for the S.W.O.M.P. project.

The hurdles include finding a company globally that would be ready to accept the waste oil that they are collecting around Samoa.

“We are facing a lot of challenges since COVID hit, we did find one of the companies that were actually going to take waste oil, but when the COVID hit we stopped connecting so unfortunately we did reach out to another company in India,” said Ms Su’a.

“But the problem is we need to pay for the shipment. There is a company that has to ship our waste oil for free in Fiji so we don’t have to pay for shipment, but it’s in negotiation again and hope we can ship out our waste oil soon.”

It is estimated that up to 20,000 litres can fill one shipment container, though Ms Su’a said they also need an IPC tank. 

However, they are cognisant of the fact that once the waste oil gets to be exported in the 1,000 litre tanks, they will not be able to get the tank back.

In an interview with the Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme (S.P.R.E.P.) Acting Director (Waste Management and Pollution Control), Anthony Talouli, said the waste oil management facility is a good start for Samoa but other areas need to improve in tandem with international best practices.

“I think there is no shortage of supply because there's 250 to 300 thousand litres of used oil in Samoa and there's still a lot of used oil out there. The issue is how you get rid of the used oil,” he said.

“When we talk about chemicals, small quantities but a significant impact on the environment and a negative impact on people’s health. 

“So for us S.P.R.E.P. we are helping to establish an environment where different associations can manage their own used oil. 

“So we provide a technical system and some funds through some projects to be able to help them to manage used oil in a sustainable way.”

Local companies that have united to address Samoa’s waste used oil usage include Auto Saver, ASCO Motors, Ford Samoa, Nissan Hyundai Service Centre, Samoa Shipping, Tokelau Office, AA workshop, Vailima Breweries, Uncle Johnny's and Smart Auto.