Good waste management is a vital component of sustainable development in SIDS. Poorly managed waste has negative impacts on public health, fragile terrestrial, coastal and marine ecosystems, and on important economic sectors such as tourism and fisheries. Waste has been recognised as one of the areas for priority attention for SIDS where the lack of regulations and poor enforcement, under-de- veloped infrastructure, limited recycling oppor- tunities due to economies of scale; general poor public attitudes and practices, and barriers to moving waste from one country to another due to different legal regimes and definitions of waste, all contribute to inadequate waste man- agement practices.
SIDS, as with most countries around the world, are experiencing an increase in waste generation due not only to common factors such as increasing population, urbanization, and change of consumption patterns, but most acutely due to the large quantities of imported material and packaging, and the excess amount of waste produced by tourism2, including cruise-ship generated wastes. Additionally the complexity and hazard of particular waste streams such as e-waste, pesticides, asbestos, used oil, items containing heavy metals and also biomedical wastes is also adding pressure to local waste management systems, since facilities for their treatment and disposal are often not in place.
1 Topic Sheet prepared by Ainhoa Carpintero, with inputs from Prasad Modak and Chris Corbin.
2 Tourism generates substantial amounts of solid waste in some SIDS with tourists generating twice as much as solid waste per capita as local residents in the Caribbean. Cruise ship passengers are estimated to produce as much as four times the amount of garbage per day compared to local residents.
In many SIDS the most prevalent method of disposal continues to be open and uncontrolled dumping, which leads to human health problems, as well as risks to the marine ecosystems, especially to mangroves, sea grasses and coral reefs; and other sensitive land areas and water courses. While in other SIDS progress with regards to sanitary landfilling has been made, it is recognized that the selection of appropriate locations for waste disposal sites poses challenges in the land use planning in the nation. The land area to be used as landfill sites is constrained by the lack of appropriate flat land close to the major urban centres and custom ownership of land; or in some cases by the small land area of the island itself (e.g. some atoll nations).
Another barrier, which is characteristic of SIDS in general, is the constraints to greater recycling. Segregation of waste streams in SIDS is still uncommon and recycling is generally not well developed in most of the islands.
The constraints are mostly related to the small size and population of SIDS and to their relative geographic isolation: specifically, the resultant low quantities of recyclable waste mean that economies of scale cannot be achieved; their small size restricts local recyclables
Marine litter in the Caribbean
© JFabiano Barretto-GPML
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markets; other recycling markets require expensive transportation.3 The limited human capacity and lack of incentives to encourage recycling, including the absence of legal and regulatory provisions for recycling, economic instruments for the citizens and businesses or voluntary agreements with the private sector, are additional constraints to recycling. Despite this, a 2013 survey showed that one in five Pacific island countries achieve recycling rates of more than 50%, and a further two in five of more than 15%.4
Therefore, to respond effectively to the SIDS challenges, there is an urgent need to promote an integrated waste management approach based on where each SIDS stands. In many low income SIDS, as with other low income countries, the first priority is to tackle public health and environmental problems by extending waste collection to all the citizens, and by phasing out uncontrolled disposal and burning. In these efforts attention should be given to careful land use planning and to the development of cost effective systems for waste collection and disposal. There is an extensive evidence base to show that the costs of inaction in SIDS, through impacts on tourism, fisheries and health and environmental impacts, greatly exceed the direct financial costs of environmentally sound waste management for both municipal solid wastes and hazardous wastes.5 In parallel, emphasis should be placed on waste reduction, reuse, recycling, recovery and return approaches in accordance with national capacities and priorities6 with particular reference to the use of waste as a resource, the use of appropriate technologies relevant for SIDS that will allow the further use of local materials (e.g. local resources used for landfill cover) and the required capacity building and awareness raising to the public.
© Jayavilal Fernando
Kolonnawa compost Plant, Sri Lanka
3 UNEP (2014) GEO SIDS- Small Island Development States Outlook listed in Annex A under Chapter 2, SIDS.
4 JICA (2013), Data Collection Survey on Reverse Logistics in the Pacific Islands, Japan International Cooperation Agency.
5 See Section 5.2, Table 5.2.
6 SIDS Accelerated Modalities of Action (S.A.M.O.A.) Pathway http://www.
sids2014.org/index.php?menu=1537
Keep Samoa clean
Mechanisms to facilitate the development of partnerships with clear win-win opportunities could also be identified, including regional strategies and approaches for advocacy in specific areas e.g. extended producer responsibility, deposit refunds, shipping sector to offset the high cost of transport of recyclables, incentives at regional level required to encourage greater private sector involvement in recycling or regional infrastructure for the treatment and disposal of hazardous waste. For example in the Pacific the sustainable management of waste is guided by a Regional Solid Waste Management Strategy (2005-2015) implemented by the Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP).
This strategy is currently being revised to include management of all waste and pollution in the region.
A critical component of the strategy is the Japanese Government sponsored J-PRISM Programme which provides hands on technical support to improve solid waste management in the region. The objective of the J-PRISM Partnership is to strengthen and develop national waste management systems and human capacity in Pacific SIDS as well as to promote the regional sharing of knowledge, understanding and expertise.
Solid waste management in Small Islands Developing States (SIDS)
Photo courtesy: GPA
Source segregation, recycling and composting in Santa Cruz Island7
The island of Santa Cruz, the second largest islands of the Galapagos Archipelago, Ecuador, with a land area of 986 km² and a population of 12,000, has been implementing separation at source and differentiated waste collection since 2006.
Citizens segregate their waste into recyclables, non-recyclables and organics, and place it in colour-coded containers (green for organic waste, blue for recyclable materials, black for other waste (residuals)). Hospitals and clinics use red containers for toxic and hazardous waste.
The municipality has established the frequency and the schedule of the collection by city sector and by type of waste; therefore the citizens place out the containers on the public roads at the specified times. The vehicles used for the collection are equipped with a system of digital radios and GPS that allows tracking the location of the vehicles and the monitoring and supervision of the differentiated collection.
The organic waste and the recyclables are sent to the Fabricio Valverde Recycling Centre. The organic waste is composted, and the product is sold and used by the municipality as fertiliser in municipal green areas. The recyclables are manually sorted, compacted and/or shredded to be sent to companies on the mainland. The residual waste is sent to the sanitary landfill.
The system has been supported by continuous education campaigns undertaken over consecutive years and focused on different target groups and key audiences, including the commercial and tourist sectors and through visits to households, training sessions for students, organizing visits to the Recycling Centre, distribution of informative materials, advertisements on the radio and the television and contests involving the local community.
In 2012, approximately 50% of the overall waste generated on Santa Cruz Island was recycled.
7 Castillo M. and Hardter U., (2014) Integrated Solid Waste Management in Island Regions. Ed. Irma Larrea Oña. WWF and Toyota, Galapagos-Ecuador.
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Moving away from dumpsites to sanitary landfill and then towards recycling in Mauritius7 In Mauritius, until the late 1980s, waste was disposed of in open dumpsites. The dumpsites were often on fire and no records were kept of the incoming wastes. In the early 1990s the Government of Mauritius started efforts to improve the situation by adopting landfill as the disposal method for the medium-term and improving the collection services. Operation of the sanitary landfill started in 1997. Five transfer stations were set up across the island to provide for cost effective transportation of waste to the landfill. A gradual increase in collection was established until the total coverage of the island was achieved; and public awareness activities were undertaken on solid waste management.
Over the years since then, the infrastructure and services have been strengthened, in parallel with developing the legal framework and building the institutional capacity, in order to provide sanitary conditions. Private initiatives have been undertaken for the removal of recyclables such as paper, plastic, batteries and waste motor oil at the transfer stations.
In 2011 a private operator invested in a composting plant, where 35,000 tonnes are processed out of the 450,000 tonnes of waste generated annually (2014).
Driven in particular by the limited land resources to further develop the landfill site, the Government is deploying much efforts to establish an integrated waste management system which will uphold the 3Rs principle. As such, infrastructure and measures for diversion of both, organic and dry recyclables from the landfill are to be implemented from 2015.8
8 Text prepared by D. Dookee, Principal Project Officer, Solid Waste Management Division, Ministry of Environment, Sustainable Development, Disaster & Beach Management.
Solid waste management in Small Islands Developing States (SIDS)
A transfer station in Mauritius
Provide cost effetive bulk
transportation of wastes to landfill;
Use of 60m3 truck trailers favoured;
Swift dispatching;
Wastes consignments entering/leaving facility electronically recorded;