Authorities in the Cook Islands are urging the community to be more responsible with the way they dispose of rubbish, as a mountain of food and recyclable waste builds at Rarotonga's landfill.
The waste unit at the infrastructure ministry says people need to stop putting their food scraps in with their general waste, as it's made working conditions at the landfill very unpleasant.
The ministry says people should feed food scraps to animals instead.
A 2012 audit showed that only 32.5 percent of rubbish in the landfill was actually suitable for the landfill as general waste.
Recyclables accounted for more than 60 percent of the rubbish at the landfill.
