1 October 2024, Port Vila – Hazardous waste generated through industrial activities, energy production, healthcare, agriculture, and from the transport sector is a major waste stream in the Pacific. The challenges faced by the Pacific due to its unique circumstances, and how a circular approach can help to address these, were highlighted during the first day of the Regional Circular Economy workshop being held on Iririki Island in Port Vila, Vanuatu.
Pacific island countries’ lack of appropriate infrastructure and the necessary capacity to properly and safely manage hazardous waste, their isolation due to geographic location, financial constraints, and environmental vulnerability were identified as the main challenges faced by Pacific island countries when it comes to dealing with hazardous waste.
Mr. Joshua Sam, Hazardous Waste Management Adviser with the Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP) stated that because of these unique circumstances, there should also be a unique approach to incorporate circularity in hazardous waste management in the Pacific.
“Many of the hazardous waste materials found in our region are not made here – they were imported,” Mr. Sam said.
According to Mr. Sam, the lack of facilities and infrastructure that can properly process hazardous waste, as well as the lack of capacity in our islands is a major challenge. Almost weekly, there is a call received from a Member country alerting SPREP to the discovery of hazardous waste materials and requesting for technical assistance to remove them.
“Our location in the world’s largest ocean means that transporting things from one place to another is a significant challenge and is also costly, needing financing that our countries also do not have. Our unique Pacific environments also present another challenge. For example, in some cases when these hazardous materials leak into the environment, it poses a threat to an island’s only source of freshwater,” Mr. Sam added.
This sentiment was echoed by Mr. Didier Labrousse, Futuna Office Director with the Department of Environment in Wallis and Futuna. He shared that while it’s easy to import items such as car batteries into the country, once they can no longer be used, they struggle with the removal of these items from the country for further processing.
Incorporating circularity into hazardous waste management given the Pacific’s unique circumstances means that we need to focus on waste minimization at the source by changing our policies or designing new ones that can address this.
“From a policy-making perspective, we can reduce hazardous waste generation by designing policies that reduce hazardous waste importation into the region. We can also improve and encourage the reuse and recycling of materials such as used oil and scrap metal which can be repurposed, and strengthen consumer information by encouraging more sustainable consumption and increasing the population’s awareness of the impacts of certain products,” Mr. Sam said.
Additional assistance is also available to the Pacific through global legal frameworks such as the Basel Convention, and the Pacific’s very own Waigani Convention, of which SPREP is the Secretariat.
The Basel Convention is the leading global agreement controlling the transboundary movement of hazardous wastes and their disposal. It entered into force in 1992 and 12 Pacific island countries – Cook Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, Kiribati, Palau, Republic of the Marshall Islands, Nauru, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu, and Vanuatu – are parties to the Convention.
“The Basel Convention is a key enabler of circular economy in the Pacific,” Mr. Sam said. “It ensures that waste exported for recycling is managed properly, and enables access to world-class recycling facilities that we do not have in the region.”
Closer to home, the Pacific has the Waigani Convention, also known as the Convention to Ban the Importation in Forum Island Countries of Hazardous Wastes and Radioactive Wastes and to Control the Transboundary Movement and Management of Hazardous Wastes within the South Pacific Region. It was adopted in 1995 in Waigani, Papua New Guinea, and entered into force in October 2001, with 13 Pacific island countries as parties.
Mr. Sam stressed the importance of both Conventions, and encouraged other Pacific island countries who have not yet signed up to do so, as the consequences of circularity without the conventions include the increase in the volume of waste that ends up in landfills with limited land availability, which will lead to environmental repercussions such as the increase of greenhouse gas emissions from landfill decomposition, and the loss of economic opportunities through the exportation of waste and resources for recycling.
“The Basel and Waigani Conventions are indispensable for the Pacific’s ability to contribute to the global circular economy. By facilitating the safe export of recyclables, these Conventions ensure that valuable resources are recovered rather than wasted in landfills,” he concluded.
For more information on the Regional Circular Economy workshop, please contact Ms. Julie Pillet, Sustainable Waste Actions in the Pacific Project Manager, at [email protected]. For more information on Hazardous Waste Management, please contact Mr. Joshua Sam, at [email protected].