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for vegetables, meat and fish, have simply been replaced
with bags of more than 50 microns. Environment minister
Mahendra Reddy says manufacturing these thicker plastic
bags above is not the solution to protecting the environment,
and that manufacturers should be making biodegradable
bags. Meanwhile one of the country’s largest retailers says
containers of plastic bags that can no longer be used, but will
still need to be sent to landfill or disposed of in some manner,
remain warehoused.
In PNG, single-use, non biodegradable plastic bags are
due to be banned next month. Bags under 40 microns are
banned, so thicker bags may enter the market. Plastic
bag manufacturers are currently operating under 25-year
environmental permits and there will be legal implications
in ending those permits. There are other concerns, the Traditional baskets replace plastic bags in Gizo, Solomon Islands.
Port Moresby Chamber of Commerce President has told The
National that “the Government has refused to hold proper
talks with businesses and stakeholders on the issue” and that European Union, has a five-year term and €16.5 million
“no one knows what the appropriate materials, specifications budget to focus on hazardous wastes, solid waste and
and definitions of reusable bags are going to be allowed or not wastewater. Late last year IUCN introduced the Plastic Waste
allowed.” Manufacturers Council CEO Chey Scovell is similarly Free Islands project which targets tourism, fisheries and
disappointed, and complains of about the lack of clarity and waste management in Fiji, Sama and Vanuatu, to address the
consultation. problem of plastic waste leakage. The Pacific Regional Waste
As an early adopter, Vanuatu banned plastic straws, single and Pollution Management Strategy 2016-2025 (aka Clean
use plastic shopping bags, and polystyrene takeaway boxes Pacific 2025) developed by SPREP champions a ‘user pays’
in July 2018. A month after the ban, a waste survey showed philosophy to manage a wide spectrum of waste, stating “the
12 per cent of household rubbish was plastic. Two per cent of region can no longer rely on aid money to manage its waste
that was plastic bags, compared to 15 per cent in 2010 and 18 products.”
per cent in 2014. More recent waste surveys in 2018 through Regional initiatives mirror global action on plastics. Parties
the Commonwealth Litter Program have found disposable to the Basel Agreement last year adopted an expansion to
nappies are now the highest category of waste in the country the Convention which will police the transhipment of plastic
(at 27 per cent). The government is now looking at banning waste and dumping of rubbish in developing countries from
disposable nappies. 1 January 2021. The United States did not back it, saying it
hinders recycling efforts. Pacific island parties to the Basel
Regional action Convention are Cook Islands, Federated States of Micronesia,
At the 2017 Pacific Island Forum in Samoa, leaders agreed Kiribati, Nauru, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Republic of the
to fast track the development of policies to ban single use Marshall Islands, Samoa, Tonga and Vanuatu. Supporters say
plastic bags, plastic and Styrofoam packaging. The Pacific the Basel extensions will make the global trade in plastic
Regional Action Plan on Marine Litter 2018-2025 includes waste more transparent and better regulated.
support for the development of a global treaty to address
marine litter and microplastics and is supported by the Pacific Limits to recycling
Ocean Litter Project (POLP), a six-year A$16 million effort. The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has suggested Fiji could
As with so many issues, the Pacific faces specific challenges set up a recycling plant or act as a hub for other smaller
in managing this problem. The heavy reliance on imported countries. Solomon Islands industry players have discussed
goods creates pressures. The tourism industry, so vital in many establishing a waste and recycling industry association.
countries, is a major generator of waste. Land for waste Samoa and Vanuatu already have them. In several Pacific
transfer stations, treatment, recycle/reuse and disposal island nations,waste pickers scavenging at landfills are the
sites is very limited in some countries and territories. The engine of local recycling efforts.
remoteness of some island and rural communities leads to a However some experts in this field, such as environmental
burn and bury culture. In the cities and towns, non-ratepayers anthropologist and political ecologist Trisia Farrelly from
and a high proportion of people living in informal settlements Massey University in New Zealand, say recycling is a false
complicate municipal waste management efforts. solution. “The scale of plastic production is too big for
Donors and international organisations are also invested in recycling alone. Of all the plastics produced between 1950
wider waste issues. and 2015, only 9 per cent have been recycled, she says,
Pacwaste Plus, a partnership between the Secretariat of and that with China’s rejection of plastic waste imports in
the Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP) and 2018, this figure if likely to drop further. While some trade

Islands Business, February 2020 11