Improved waste management in Kiribati: a case study

Abstract

By the late 1990s Kiribati was in a waste crisis. The primary problem was on South Tarawa, the capital, and home of approximately one half of the country's people. There were no engineered landfills, and litter was extremely common and thick, in all built up areas and surrounding beaches. Piles of waste often remained uncollected in the streets for weeks. Programmes were instituted by the Ministry of Environment, the ADB, and SPREP to turn the situation around. By 2002, a programme called SAPHE1 was underway, building two landfills, funded through an ADB loan to the Government, and FSP Kiribati had completed a programme called KEEP (Kiribati Environmental Education Programme) which focused on home waste management, and laid the basis for a more integrated approach. The Ministry of Environment coordinated closely with both these projects. Some analysis of these programmes was conducted by SPREP in the report for the WASTE project Community- Based Waste Management.