On a tropical island paradise in the middle of the Indian Ocean, hundreds of old cars, quad bikes and boats sit rusting in the salty sea breeze.
There’s little land to dump old and wrecked vehicles on the Cocos (Keeling) Islands, and they can’t be buried or burned.
The islands, which are one of Australia’s most remote territories, are under threat from erosion and inundation which means traditional forms of waste disposal like landfill aren’t an option.
At the moment, the only option is to ship the vehicles almost 3,000 kilometres back to mainland Australia — disposing of an average-sized car costs $1,900 for residents and $12,400 for commercial and government agencies.
Earlier this year, the Shire of Cocos (Keeling) Islands increased the residents’ rubbish bin collection fee by 55 per cent while government agencies received a 1,200 per cent rise.
The annual cost of a bin collection on the Cocos (Keeling) Islands is now $580 for residents and almost $5,000 for public agencies.
So far, government agencies have refused to pay.
In a letter to the local shire, the Indian Ocean Territories said the new “Commonwealth rubbish charge” of almost $5,000 per government-owned property, would be an impost on funding and may impact service delivery to the islands.
The letter said the department would delay paying rates while it sought advice.
These increased costs will slowly start squeezing the pockets of the island’s small community.
But with waste stockpiling on these islands for years, the local shire says it’s time something is done.
Work has already started, with shipping containers full of asbestos, aluminium cans, tyres and batteries being shipped 3,000km from the islands to Fremantle.
Only two of the 27 coral islands are populated, with dump sites on each hosting stockpiles of fridges, washing machines, boats and bikes.
It’s estimated there are 42 boats in the “boat graveyard” along with hundreds of broken buggies, quad bikes and cars, 10 large trucks and even a bus.
Some of these items are scattered throughout the tropical jungle.
Cocos (Keeling) Islands Shire chief executive Frank Mills said there was no space to take any more waste.
“It’s just got to the stage now where both Home and West Island are literally saturated with waste.
“We need to be very creative and look at ways of how we can get waste off the islands.”
The emerging waste crisis comes as the Australia Defence Force (ADF) begins work on massive upgrades to the islands’ main airstrip.
The shire hopes the ADF may be able to help deal with the waste by filling ships bringing construction equipment and supplies to the islands with waste for the return trip to Australia.
A spokesperson confirmed it would deal with the waste it created during the upgrades and any legacy military waste on the islands.
Cocos Islanders are no strangers to the exorbitant cost of living. A dozen eggs cost $14.
Locally, it’s known as the “paradise tax”.
Kelly Edwards, who heads up the Community Resource Centre, said she loved living there and knew the remoteness meant services cost more.
But she said the community drew the line at a proposal that would have seen residents paying full cost recovery on waste.
“I’m so proud of the community coming together as one saying ‘that’s just not manageable, we have to find more solutions’,” Ms Edwards said.
But the Cocos community isn’t alone in facing these problems, with other islands around the world coming up against similar issues.
Waste management expert Jeff Seadon, who co-authored a report for the United Nations on the outlook of waste management on small island developing states, said a big part of the solution will be behavioural change by the community.
“They have materials coming onto the island, and those materials have got a life span,” Dr Seadon, from Auckland University of Technology, said.
A spokesperson for the Department of Infrastructure said the Australian government provides the Shire of Cocos (Keeling) Islands with a significant level of funding to meet its local government obligations, including waste management.
The government recently funded the development of the Indian Ocean Territories waste management strategy, which the spokesperson said would help identify barriers to waste management and opportunities to support the preservation and conservation islands.
(ABC)
