Rocket Burn Barrel

 

The Rocket Burn Barrel (RBB) was introduced in March of 2024 as a Rotary Club of Savusavu project to help in reducing plastic pollution in Cakaudrove. The intent was and is to serve remote villages and health with no access to recycling or other “clean” disposal methods for the waste plastic they produce or collect from their beaches.

 

Over the course of 2024 we have delivered or have commitments for 38 RBB installations with the ability to destroy over 400,000 plastic bottles and other waste per year.

 

The RBB is able to do this because of its barrel-in-a-barrel design and the high airflow created that delivers a temperature regularly of 800C or more. Normal plastic that is used in drink bottles and food packaging is completely broken down and destroyed at temperature above 500C, and the worst of the potential toxins (furans and dioxins) are broken down above 700C. This results in a virtually smokeless burn with no toxins released or micro/nano-plastics created.

 

The total cost to build one of these is less than F$200 and they will last up to 18months.

In 2024 we had a total cost of F$6,600 to build 42 RBBs

 

Our goal has been to get these as widely distributed as possible without cost being a barrier for places that can benefit from it. We ask for donations from each recipient to underwrite the costs of building and distributing these. The suggested donation schedule is:

Donations from these groups totaled F$4,900 for 2024, plus donations from other Rotary Clubs and members of $3,400. This gives total receipts of $8,300.

 

As of year-end, we have F$1,700 remaining in the project account.

 

We have 2 primary challenges: getting empty barrels and “marketing” the finished RBB.

 

For most of the year getting empty drums was hit-and-miss. We would get some donated and purchased a number from local hardware stores but supplies were, and continue to be, unreliable. Dulux corporation, which donated 30 empty drums in 2024, has said it will continue to supply us with these so we are hopeful for 2025 supplies.

 

Getting the word out to villages and individuals has not been as successful as we hoped. Asking $100 from villages, our main target and the biggest opportunity for plastic destruction, has caused hesitation on their part as that is often a big sum for them. They are happy to accept an RBB when donated and have used them to good effect once received. We will revisit the donation structure in 2025 and I will be recommending villages be given them at no cost to encourage greater uptake.   

 

We enter into 2025 with 4 RBBs on-hand and uncommitted. The goal is to deliver/install 50 more RBB’s, or one per week. This is based on Dulux’s continued support with 90+ free empty barrels and real improvements in our marketing/distribution.

 

Depending on the mix of sites, we project an average income of F$70 per RBB and an average cost of F$160, leaving a shortfall of F$90 per RBB or F$4,500 for the year-end goal. Reaching that goal would destroy approximately 50,000 kilos of plastic waste, completely and safely removing from the environment. A total investment of F$ 0.15 or USD0.06 per kilo.

 

This goal is, we believe, conservative and could certainly be overachieved by up to 100% just in our province of Cakaudrove.

 

In the coming months we will be seeking to expand the program by “cloning” it in other Fiji Rotary Clubs and organizations. There is virtually no up-front investment costs, and we can quickly train new people to build the RBBs making this an ”easy win” for many groups. The Youth Council of Cakaudrove has picked this up as one of its focus projects for clubs around the district and beyond. Detailed plans and an instructional video on how to build an RBB are available at the Rotary web-site for free and we know a number of individuals have used those to successfully build their own.

 

With even modest success in these ventures, it is not hard to believe that the RBBs in Fiji could be destroying a million kilos of plastic waste per year, a win for Fiji and the world.