At the 2026 Zero Waste Forum in Istanbul last week, Mr Muni Reddy, Chief Executive Officer of Nadi Town Council – one of our most active ICLEI member councils in Oceania – shared how Fiji’s third-largest town is leading the way in circular economy initiatives.
Nadi Town Council is no stranger to the unique challenges of waste management experienced by the Pacific’s Small Island Developing States (SIDS), including limited land availability, financial constraints, and population growth. However, as Muni rightly points out, “with challenge comes opportunity”, and Nadi Town Council have implemented a number of initiatives to address the waste issue.
Return & Earn:
In collaboration with Mission Pacific Fiji, the Return & Earn initiative is a simple but effective programme in which community members return bottles and cans to Nadi Town Council for 5 cents each, and Mission Pacific buys them back at 10 cents. This simultaneously creates a revenue stream, reduces litter, and creates a growing culture of responsible waste management across Fiji.
Green waste collection:
When Cyclone Vaianu struck in April 2026, it brought heavy rainfall, strong winds and widespread flooding. In response, Nadi Town Council set up a scheme to collect and shred disaster-related green waste, which was later turned into mulch, a sellable commodity.
Clean Schools Programme:
Nadi Town Council has also led the way with the successful Clean Schools Programme, which involves a range of waste management interventions, encouraging students to be agents of change while improving education around waste-to-wealth processes.
Curb-side recycling:
This year, Nadi Town Council continues its separate collection of recyclables, bucking the national trend of minimal and stagnated recycling rates, and helping to divert waste from the country’s two primary landfills.
It is evident that in these cases, ‘wealth’ extends beyond monetary gain, encompassing a genuine commitment to waste management, and growing community awareness of the three Rs (reduce, reuse, recycle) that underpin it. Yet without locally-tailored climate action plans, initiating and maintaining a cohesive set of activities that successfully address the waste problem remains a significant challenge. This is where ICLEI comes in.
“Since becoming a member of ICLEI Oceania we have been able to access technical expertise to develop a climate action plan for Nadi,” says Muni. “This is not only for the municipality of Nadi, but for the district as a whole. We are very grateful to ICLEI for helping us close the gap in our expertise,” he says.
ICLEI, along with the Global Covenant of Mayors, helped to develop the Climate Action Plan, and continues to support Nadi Town Council with implementation.
For Nadi, the journey from local waste challenge to international climate advocacy is a testament to what locally-driven, globally-connected action can achieve. The Zero Waste Forum is the pivotal convening event for waste action in the lead-up to COP31, and as a proud partner of the event, ICLEI is encouraged to see member cities like Nadi Town Council actively contributing to the global climate delivery agenda.