Sustainable Financing for Waste Management in the Pacific

Hello community!

Just found this article on a container deposit scheme adopted in Queensland, Australia. What I thought was very interesting was the local community involvement in the process, especially in the collection of waste data, and how this was a key factor for the scheme's success.

This experience shows how by engaging with people and giving them incentives to recycle, it was possible to create more sustainable practices and a cleaner environment.

A short video to share findings from the Sustainable Financing for Waste Management Study Tour on 10 key elements that make a successful scheme.

These elements may be useful for consideration as we design and build our schemes in the Pacific.

We welcome interaction from the tour participants in the comments sections on what other types of resources we can develop to help you to continue to champion design and implement sustainable financing systems.

To my fellow PacWastePlus colleagues,
Welcome to Cook Islands, I look forward to our Steering Committee starting tomorrow 26th April 2023 and hope our hospitality in accommodating you all, makes you want to spend all your DSA here in Cook Islands :)
I wish our Steering Committee a successful event.
See you all soon,
Meitaki nui,
Claytoncy

Hi Debra Kereseka and Primula Kingmele just read about the earthquakes in the Solomon, is everything fine? I hope you are well!

It’s hard to believe we’re at the end.

It’s been an intense experience for the Sustainable Financing for Waste Management Study Tour participants. Over the past two weeks we’ve travelled to three different cities in Australia via trains, planes and buses, held more than a dozen Talanoas with regulators, operators, government representatives and ministries, visited more than 15 different waste management sites, and even attended a national conference to discuss waste management and the environment.

All of these activities have been aimed at fostering understanding, encouraging learning, and building capacity, and on the final day, study tour participants started to bring it all together to help develop their own scheme designs for their specific countries.

Our final Talanoa was held with the Product Stewardship Center of Excellence, who help to ensure that producers and retailers better manage the impacts of products and material streams throughout their lifecycle. They offered eight key steps for participants to consider when designing their schemes:

1) Why: understanding why the scheme needs to be implemented and what problem needs to be addressed.
2) Scope: the products that need to be included, the geographic range, potential markets and companies, and how to work in a common supply chain.
3) Objectives: what needs to be achieved environmentally, economically, and socially.
4) Outcomes: identifying short, medium and long-term goals to drive the scheme.
5) Financing: who is going to pay for the scheme, how this is going to be done, and when the finances will be recovered.
6) Governance: who manages those funds, how are costs charged, and what regulations are in place to ensure transparency.
7) Risks: considering the possibility of companies not contributing, irresponsible collection, or products being exported to developing countries.
8) Operations: operational principles and procedures, ensuring responsibility, service levels, definition of roles, design, reuse, repair, and compliance.

The participants put these steps to the test, working in breakout groups to discuss four important issues – e-waste, end of life vehicles, tyres and white goods – and discussing all the elements that need to be considered when developing their schemes.

And with that, the Sustainable Financing for Waste Management Study Tour came to an end.

In a final farewell, participants thanked the PacWastePlus and GEF ISLANDS team for the incredible efforts they made to make this trip possible, and many offered humbling remarks about the impact the trip has had.

‘We came with nothing, but we’re leaving with so much,’ commented one participant. ‘I’ve been in government for more than 20 years but this is one of the highlights of my career. Thank you. Thank you for everything.’

‘It’s been absolutely heart-warming,’ commented another. ‘We all have experience in different fields, but somehow we came together and found a common language, the language of waste management. This is the direction we need to take and I’m honoured to have been part of it all.’

‘We found momentum here and we need to keep it going,’ commented a third. ‘You’ve equipped with all the information and knowledge we could ask for, and we hope that in the future, you will be proud of what we will achieve. We’re ready to go back to the islands, to lobby and advocate and yell for changes. Let’s go home and make it happen.’

Thank you for the invitation to join the opening day of the Sustainable Financing for Waste Management study tour and to share the story of the South Australian Container Deposit System. If you are interested to learn more about the South Australian CDS and the current review please visit our website at attached link, I value the opportunity provided to meet with you and to be part of the tours sharing of knowledge and lessons learned for the design, implementation, and operation of Sustainable Financing Systems.

‘We all know that we need to reduce, reuse and recycle,’ explains Peter Rutherford, Senior Ecologist and Educator at the Kimbriki Resource Recovery Centre. ‘But more than this, we need to rethink. We need to rethink everything about this world and that’s what we’re trying to inspire.’

After nearly two weeks of discussing plastics, aluminium cans, and e-waste, the Sustainable Financing for Waste Management Study Tour participants got back to basics today and dug deep – literally – to learn about the importance of composting. While the focus of waste management is often on recycling and recovery, we tend to overlook the importance of where everything begins: the soil.

So what’s the big deal?

When organic waste is dumped in a landfill, microorganisms break it down in a process known as anaerobic digestion. This process releases methane, a gas 25 times more potent than carbon dioxide, and a contributor to climate change. Not only is methane extremely flammable (and the cause of many landfill fires), it also produces a toxic leachate that can contaminate land and water systems. Methane can be captured and used as energy, but this requires a significant amount of infrastructure and planning, and most places, including the Pacific islands, don’t have these kinds of systems in place. In fact, 40% of the waste generated in the Pacific is organic waste, but much of this could be resolved by the simple process of composting.

‘Composting has untold benefits,’ continues Peter. ‘Not only does it remove waste from landfills, but it enriches the soil, reduces the need for chemical fertilisers, revitalises water systems, helps to sequester carbon, and most importantly, gives us the opportunity to reconnect with the natural world. Composting gives life to soil – and to us too.’

To put this point across, the study tour participants got their hands dirty, digging deep into composting buckets, turning soil, feeding worms, and learning from the wealth of knowledge that Peter and his team have to offer about how these natural systems work.

It is impossible not to be inspired walking around the Kimbriki site. Whether it’s the beautiful gardens bursting with edible flowers, or the names of plants adorned on repurposed records, or the delicate artwork lining the pathways, the inspirational quotes hanging from the trees, or the worms peeking their heads out of the rich soil, the energy is tangible.

‘I actually found today quite moving,’ commented one participant. ‘This whole trip we’ve been looking at the bigger picture, the systems and processes that need to be in place to address waste management, but somehow this really hit home. It was an important reminder that every little action makes a difference, and that it’s within all of our capacity to do something to address waste management. This is powerful and it’s quite humbling to remember that, at the end of it all, it’s about the decisions we make every day that really change the world.’

As another commented, ‘Our hearts are alight.’

"The study tour site visits and our Talanoa sessions with regulators are not only informative but also provide us, participants, an opportunity to understand simple yet innovative solutions that we can apply in our own island country context.

We as island countries and as a region need to stop paddling in the grey when deciding on sustainable financing schemes, design, processes, and operation procedures and must commit to it and make a start, we know the problem we see the problem of waste, but we also know the solutions.

If we are to transition towards a Circular Economy it will require genuine partnerships, appropriate resources, commitment to implement initiatives, and involvement of all stakeholders.

It is paramount we work together and maintain the partnership we have built with our private sector and our communities who keep us honest as public servants to serve our people in the Cook Islands.

Ongoing education and awareness through effective communications are always key to keeping all stakeholders informed and engaged while we ride the tide of a circular economy for waste and as we paddle as a team to turn the tide on waste"

Mr Muraai Herman
Senior Environmental Partnerships Co-ordinator
National Environment Service
Cook Islands

We often think that waste management is something that needs to be done by someone else – it’s too hard, or too technical, or too complicated for the average person. But today on the Sustainable Financing for Waste Management Study tour, participants learned just how inclusive waste management can be.

Continuing their visit in Albury, participants first stopped at the Billabong Return and Earn Facility, which undertakes waste diversion activities onsite, including collecting containers, making fire bricks from paper and cardboard, segregating waste, and composting and gardening. The recycling system works under the Container Deposit System we’ve been exploring all week. What makes this facility unique, however, is that 20 of the 33 workers onsite have a disability.

‘We started this whole operation in a 20ft container, sorting waste by hand,’ explains Heather Goesch, operator of the facility. ‘Our primary objective was to give back to the community, so when we won the tender to become the operator for Automated Depot Machines in Albury, we knew we wanted to include people who are generally excluded from society.’

While sorting the containers is now done by machine, Heather explains how people with disabilities play a vital role in the operations, shredding paper, repurposing products and creating new items and crafts, and tending to the garden and composting.

‘It’s simple really,’ continues Heather. ‘Waste management is an opportunity to address both the environment and socio-economic issues. People with disabilities can contribute to society in so many ways and here they have a sense of purpose, a sense of accomplishment, and they’re contributing to creating a better environment for everyone.’

The next stop was to the Thurgoona Men’s Shed, a not-for-profit organisation that provides a space for retirees to repair and repurpose items. The facility has over 85 members who are involved in woodwork, metal work, constructing garden beds out of truck guards and old roller doors, composting and gardening, and a variety of community projects. All the materials used were destined for the landfill, and in this way, the men divert waste by remanufacturing them into new items, many of which have become prized possessions in the community.

‘Just because people are retired doesn’t mean they don’t still have a contribution to make,’ explains Rodger Matheson, President of Thurgoona Men’s Shed. ‘Here it’s all about fellowship. The members have an incredible range of skills, and it’s very gratifying to use those skills for the benefit of the community. We’re diverting waste and we’re creating something beautiful, both physically and socially, in the process.’

‘I especially enjoyed today because it humanised waste management,’ commented one study tour participant. ‘We tend to get lost in the technicalities of it all, but at the end of the day it’s really all about people and it’s good to be reminded of that. There are many ways of addressing waste management and including all people in different ways is something we need to take back to the islands with us.’

“This study tour is intensive, with every site visit, every Talanoa session we are gaining so much knowledge that we can take back to our countries and share with colleagues, have our own in-country Talanoa session, and design systems that are meaningful and relevant to our island context-a one size fit all design will not resolve our island countries waste issues.

I feel that we in the Pacific need to start small and simple if we are to move from a linear to a circular economy approach as a sustainable solution for the climate change, biodiversity, waste, and pollution issues that we are faced with.

Our current 3R - reduce, reuse, recycle mantra needs to include repurpose, repair, and remodel so we can close the loop but also allow for other initiatives that can have added value.

For us to make that transition towards a circular economy all sectors – public sector, private sector industries, communities and traditional leaders must coordinate and work together with commitment and transparency.

We all can be champions as it begins with us-our small actions that lead to a big impact when it comes to sustainable solutions for our waste issues-but is it really waste or can it be a valuable resource”

Ms Kliu Basilius
Manager Education and Outreach Division
Environmental Quality Protection Board
Palau