After his project got rejected in Sydney, a rubbish disposal magnate now hopes to build a $630m port and waste incinerator near a tourist gateway city
An Australian billionaire’s plan to burn rubbish for energy in Fiji amounts to “waste colonialism” and risks spoiling a “beach paradise”, villagers and the Pacific country’s UN ambassador have said.
Traditional landowner Inoke Tora boarded a bus to the capital, Suva, on Tuesday with a petition from villagers opposing the $630m waste-to-energy incinerator, which is forecast to consume 900,000 tonnes of non-recyclable rubbish each year.
The fashion entrepreneur behind the Paris-born Kookai label and an Australian billionaire who made his fortune in rubbish disposal want to build a port and waste incinerator within 15km (9 miles) of Fiji’s tourism gateway Nadi.
The Australian-based duo of Ian Malouf and Rob Cromb have told Fiji’s government the project could meet 40% of the small country’s electricity needs, cutting its reliance on diesel.
