Waste Management and Pollution Control
1 October 2014, Majuro, Marshall Islands - Yesterday evening in Majuro, Republic of the Marshall Islands, the PacWaste project secured ongoing commitment and participation from Pacific island countries at the project's second official Steering Committee Meeting.
PacWaste is a four-year, €7.85m project funded by the European Union and implemented by the Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP), to improve regional hazardous waste management across the Pacific in the priority areas of healthcare waste, asbestos waste, E-waste and integrated atoll waste management.
At the meeting, Pacific island and development partners agency representatives attending the 25th Annual Meeting of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme had the opportunity to discuss the outcomes from the project's first year and to guide future project activities.
At the opening of the meeting, SPREP Director General Mr David Sheppard thanked the European Union for its ongoing support to better protect the health of Pacific communities and the fragile environments found in the Pacific region from the impacts of hazardous wastes.
"Countries' involvement and their active participation and full ownership of the actions required are essential for project success" said Jesus Lavina, Head of Sector for Natural Resources and Infrastructure Division at the European Union Delegation for the Pacific.
Items discussed included the current management, challenges and issues in the Pacific region connected with management of E-waste and healthcare waste. SPREP's PacWaste Project Manager, Mr Stewart Williams, presented the results from regional baseline surveys for these waste types that have recently been undertaken, providing the PacWaste team with an encouraging range of intervention options to discuss and prioritise.
Pictured above: Mr Stewart Williams (SPREP), Mr Jesús Lavina Richi (European Union)
"Survey data will allow the PacWaste team to provide the best possible solutions to healthcare waste disposal over the longer term" said Dr David Haynes, Director of Waste Management and Pollution control at SPREP. "It will also allow ongoing targeted training in best practice infection control and healthcare waste handling that will provide hospital ward staff with a safer working environment."
Also discussed were the results of the assessment of Majuro's solid integrated waste management and priority interventions for atoll waste management. This project component will assist the remote Pacific atoll community to implement recycling programmes that will help prevent the accumulation of waste into the future.
Though still in its infancy, PacWaste has already demonstrated its fundamental value to the health and wellbeing of the Pacific people and environment. Through PacWaste, emergency interventions and plans to protect community health have already been carried out in Fiji, Samoa and Nauru to prevent continued dangerous asbestos exposure identified through the ongoing regional PacWaste asbestos baseline survey.
For more information about PacWaste please visit www.sprep.org/pacwaste or contact Mr Stewart Williams.
PacWaste is a four-year, €7.85m project funded by the European Union and implemented by the Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP), to improve regional hazardous waste management across the Pacific in the priority areas of healthcare waste, asbestos waste, E-waste and integrated atoll waste management.
At the meeting, Pacific island and development partners agency representatives attending the 25th Annual Meeting of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme had the opportunity to discuss the outcomes from the project's first year and to guide future project activities.
Pictured above: Ms Turang Teuea (Kiribati) at the PacWaste Steering Committee Meeting in Majuro.
At the opening of the meeting, SPREP Director General Mr David Sheppard thanked the European Union for its ongoing support to better protect the health of Pacific communities and the fragile environments found in the Pacific region from the impacts of hazardous wastes.
"Countries' involvement and their active participation and full ownership of the actions required are essential for project success" said Jesus Lavina, Head of Sector for Natural Resources and Infrastructure Division at the European Union Delegation for the Pacific.
Items discussed included the current management, challenges and issues in the Pacific region connected with management of E-waste and healthcare waste. SPREP's PacWaste Project Manager, Mr Stewart Williams, presented the results from regional baseline surveys for these waste types that have recently been undertaken, providing the PacWaste team with an encouraging range of intervention options to discuss and prioritise.
Pictured above: Mr Stewart Williams (SPREP), Mr Jesús Lavina Richi (European Union)
"Survey data will allow the PacWaste team to provide the best possible solutions to healthcare waste disposal over the longer term" said Dr David Haynes, Director of Waste Management and Pollution control at SPREP. "It will also allow ongoing targeted training in best practice infection control and healthcare waste handling that will provide hospital ward staff with a safer working environment."
Also discussed were the results of the assessment of Majuro's solid integrated waste management and priority interventions for atoll waste management. This project component will assist the remote Pacific atoll community to implement recycling programmes that will help prevent the accumulation of waste into the future.
Pictured above: Ms. Ileana Miritescu (European Union), Mr Stewart Williams (SPREP), Mr Jesús Lavina Richi (European Union) and Mr David Sheppard (SPREP) at the PacWaste Steering Committee Meeting in Majuro.
Though still in its infancy, PacWaste has already demonstrated its fundamental value to the health and wellbeing of the Pacific people and environment. Through PacWaste, emergency interventions and plans to protect community health have already been carried out in Fiji, Samoa and Nauru to prevent continued dangerous asbestos exposure identified through the ongoing regional PacWaste asbestos baseline survey.
For more information about PacWaste please visit www.sprep.org/pacwaste or contact Mr Stewart Williams.