The newly-completed National Landfill in Aimeliik is set to be opened this coming January, following nearly two years of construction, while the current landfill at M-Dock will be used as a recycling center.
The ribbon-cutting ceremony for the Aimeliik landfill project was held on Thursday morning, signaling the end of an endeavor which spanned 638 days, cost over $10 million, and involved the contribution of more than 28 hundred people.
The landfill, funded by the Japanese Government, has the capacity to hold 384,898 cubed meters of waste, and will utilize the “fukuoka method”, a semi-aerobic waste disposal technology developed in Japan.
Resident Representative of JICA-Palau Yoshikazu Tachihara said that the landfill is designed to “minimize the damage to the nature and human life generated by waste”, by using bacteria-power to decompose, contain the odor, and reduce the volume of waste.
The landfill is anticipated to have a lifespan of twenty-five years, while the M-Dock landfill, which also uses the “fukuoka method”, was developed in 2007 and is reaching its waste-holding capacity.
Ambassador of Japan Akira Karasawa called the project “one of Japan’s biggest grant aids to Palau in history”, comparing it to the Japan-Palau Friendship Bridge and the International Airport Terminal. The project officially began when Japan and Palau signed an exchange of notes for the project in May 2018, but the proposal for the new landfill was made over twenty years ago.
The site of the landfill in Aimeliik, which is about 280 meters wide and 280 meters long, includes the landfill itself, a circulation system and leachate pond where contaminated water is collected, and a facility where the water is treated.
The “fukuoka method” uses collection and venting pipes to introduce air to the bottom layer of the landfill, and allows the contaminated water to be quickly separated from the waste. After treatment, the contaminated water is mixed with collected rainwater for natural cleansing.
President Tommy E. Remengesau Jr. praised the “eco-friendly” technology as being the best waste-disposal method in the Pacific.
“There are not many things in which [Palau] can be number one . . . but Palau has the best solid-waste management system in the entire Pacific,” President Remengesau said, citing that leaders in the Pacific Island Forum have all requested copies of Palau’s “fukuoka-method” landfills and the recycling program.
He went on to say that Palau will need to look into creating more waste-disposal sites in the coming years, “at least one more in northern Babeldaob”.
“That’s the reality: populations grow, trash grows, therefore we need more facilities and infrastructure,” President Remengesau said.
President Remengesau expressed gratitude to the people of Aimeliik for having a bigger vision, understanding that this would not only benefit the whole of Palau but especially benefit Aimeliik State.
$10M new national landfill completed in Aimeliik
