Household rubbish projected to hit 1.59m tonnes by 2025

A LACK of recycling initiatives for household rubbish disposal is expected to contribute to waste generation in the Pacific reaching almost 1.59 million tonnes by 2025, says a new report launched by the Pacific Islands Forum.

And at least 44 per cent of the estimate was projected to be organic waste.

The Second Quadrennial Pacific Sustainable Development Report 2022, launched by PIF in Suva last week, also highlighted that at least 90 per cent of ocean litter was from land-based sources.

“Waste generation for the entire Pacific urban population was estimated at over 1.16m tonnes in 2013,” the report said.

“Only 47 per cent of national populations across 18 PICTs (Pacific Island Countries and Territories) have access to regular collection services.

“This is mainly population in the rural areas and providing consistent and reliable waste collection services in rural areas and outer islands of many PICTs remains a challenge.

“While recycling is a viable response to household rubbish disposal, there is little to none being set up in PICTs.”

The report highlighted that recycling initiatives had resulted in a substantial volume of waste being taken offshore.

“Recycling plants require substantial investment in infrastructure, capacity, and maintenance and in some atoll nations where land availability is also a challenge due to high population densities, setting up these types of facilities could be an issue.”

According to the report, marine pollution remained a significant concern for the region.

To curb this, a number of countries, including Fiji, had taken measures to ban the use of single-use plastic and styrofoam packaging.

The report highlighted that as of June 2022, 20 countries had committed to ban the sale and distribution of the items. Vanuatu, Palau and Samoa implemented complete bans, while Fiji introduced “user fees” to discourage the use of plastics.

While recycling is a viable response to household rubbish disposal, there is little to none being

set up in PICTs

Report