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At the 3 Clean Pacific roundtable hosted by New Caledonia and held virtually on the 16 to 25 November 2021, we the participants adopted the following outcomes statement. The Pacific Ocean is the lifeblood of our society. It provides our cultural and historical identity since time immemorial and unites our islands in common purpose.

Nous, participants réunis lors de la 3e Table ronde pour un Pacifique propre accueillie par la Nouvelle-Calédonie en mode virtuel du 16 au 25 novembre 2021, adoptons le relevé de conclusions suivant. Réaffirmons que l'océan Pacifique est l’élément vital de notre société et constitue le fondement de notre identité culturelle et historique depuis des temps immémoriaux et unit nos îles dans un but commun.

The impact of waste and pollution is taking its toll on the health of communities, degrading natural ecosystems, threatening food security, impending resilience to climate change, and adversely impacting social and economic development of countries in the region. The PacWastePlus programme will generate improved economic, social, health and environmental benefits by enhancing existing activities and building capacity and sustainability into waste management practices for all participating countries.

This report provides a snapshot of waste audit generation and composition across the business and household waste streams for six locations within PNG. Household waste collections are the responsibility of local governments. In some circumstances the local government engages private sector contractors to provide these services, which in general are limited to the urban areas only. Recycling in the PNG in conducted by the private sector and is limited to scrap-steel e-wastes, oil, vehicle batteries and PET plastic (although the latter may have slowed due to market limitations). The disposal sites owned by the local government may be operated in accordance with local by-laws but may not hold an environmental permit issued by the national regulator, CEPA.

Samoa is utilising allocated PacWastePlus investment to design and implement an e-waste Take-Back system in order to reduce pollution and its resulting environmental and health impacts. To address the management of E-Waste, Samoa choose to introduce a sustainable financing legislation, design and implement an e-waste take back system, facilitate training on safe e-waste handling and dismantling, construct an e-waste dismantling and storage facility.

Asbestos-containing materials are a major issue for many Pacific Island countries with a history of use of asbestos-containing materials (ACM) in construction. All forms of asbestos are carcinogenic to humans and inhalation of asbestos fibres that have become airborne can cause serious lung disease. Kiribati seeks to utilise PacWastePlus funds and assistance to meaningfully engage in the management of ACM on Banaba Island with the goal of ultimately removing from the island this risk to human health and the environment.

Asbestos-containing materials are major issue for many Pacific Island countries with a history of use asbestos-containing materials (ACM) in construction. All forms of asbestos are carcinogenic to humans and inhalation of asbestos fibres that have become airborne can cause serious lung disease. Asbestos poses a significant risk to the people of Nauru.

Waste received at the main Bouffa landfill in Vanuatu is comprised of up to 35% beverage containers products (aluminium, PET, glass). Beverage containers are also commonly seen as litter and in informal stockpiles or burnt by communities in pits. Vanuatu has had limited success implementing long-term solutions for recovery of recyclable items, due to lack of financing, infrastructure, technical expertise, and formal waste collection services. The Vanuatu Department of Environmental Protection and Conservation (DEPC) views a Sustainable Financing system (known as a Product Stewardship Scheme (PSS)) as a solution to enable the collection and management of recyclable items. The DEPC, with the support of Donors and a Working Group of interested parties, has been developing the PSS since 2017. The DEPC seek for PacWastePlus to support the completion of additional components of this pathway – with the goal of implementing the PSS.

Recognising Tuvalu has insufficient space to continually rely on waste disposal and stockpiling, the Tuvalu department of waste management (DWM) has recently implemented several initiatives to improve solid and hazardous waste management and reduce risks to their people and environment. Many of these initiatives have focused on the capital island, Funafuti - home to 50% of the population. The DWM now seeks to extend waste management initiatives to Tuvalu’s eight Outer Islands.

Recent audit for the states of Chuuk and Yap identified mo9re than 20% of wastes landfill are organic waste. This is mainly due to the absence of a designated programme (collection services and processing station) and community awareness to effectively manage organic in waste in the two states.