Recycling in Mauritius

• 23.7.2023

Sorting waste in Mauritius was a really hard nut to crack and a big challenge for us - the honest sorters spoiled by the possibilities of recycling in Europe. Basically on every beach you will find a container for sorting pet bottles, which is great. However, this is where it starts and unfortunately practically ends. We had a big problem finding sorting of at least basic materials such as paper, plastic and glass.

There is no comprehensive recycling system in Mauritius, but sorting is handled by several local recycling companies. We contacted one such company, but after they finally answered our call, we were horrified to find out from them that they only recycle PET bottles. So basically for a quarter of a year, we constantly took sorted waste with us for all our accommodations and secretly hoped that we would finally find containers for sorting at the next one.

We had another attempt at the Bagatelle shopping center, where the plastic container was even marked on Google maps. We came to Bagatelle for shopping with our full bag of plastics and to our unpleasant surprise we found out that the container had once stood in this place, but now only a hole remained and the container had obviously been taken away for good.

Finally, after three months and our accommodation in the north, we found all the necessary containers to sort in La Croisette shopping center near Grand Baie. We were finally able to get rid of our waste and gain space in the house for more much-needed toys for the children.

Practical tips: they partly helped us with sorting directly at some accommodations, where we left e.g. a bag with plastics and paper. As for glass, we came across a container at some shopping centers (e.g. Super U Tamarin) and a relatively large number of bottles are backed up. E.g. bottles of beer and sweetened sparkling drinks, which are sold here in glass instead of plastic.