The Samoa government is planning to introduce a waste tax and it may be operational as early as June of this year.
A task force has already started meeting to discuss the proposed tax.
The waste levy charges a levy on importers who bring in goods like aluminum cans, plastic bottles and tires.
The consumer can then earn that money through returning those waste products to recycling companies.
The report says the balance of the levy would go towards the cost of doing business which has been identified as the “most prohibitive barrier in Samoa’s waste management system”.
SPREP is offering technical services and advising what can work best for Samoa.
SWRMA vice president John Sio said, “We will definitely sit down with stakeholders face to face and it is likely to be sector by sector.”
He said the levy would be the best funding mechanism fto help recyclers get low value waste off Samoan shores.
“We have to send it back to where it came from,” he said.
