4 October 2024 – Port Vila, Vanuatu – There is one thing that is always a certainty when a disaster strikes, and that is increased waste will be created by the disaster. 

The Pacific region is identified to be the most prone to natural disasters and climate risks such as tropical cyclones, flooding, earthquakes, and tsunamis. These natural disasters generate large volumes of waste within a very short period of time. 

Being able to effectively manage disaster waste in a timely manner, is a measure of a country’s resilience, and necessary to effectively recover and return to normalcy. 

Given the impact of waste on local food and water source, waste management is now being mainstreamed into countries’ National Disaster Management Office frameworks on Disaster Risk Reduction, especially focusing on disaster response and recovery works. 

Ms. Sainimili Bulai, PacWastePlus Technical Waste Project Officer, said, “While considerable efforts have been focused on predicting and building resilience to climate change related disaster impacts, the national management of debris and waste after each disaster event is still largely ad-hoc and uncoordinated.”

This is where the Framework for Resilient Development under Goal 3 and the Regional Disaster Waste Management Guideline come in. These two regional frameworks empower the waste management sector and provide an opportunity for waste management to be officially recognised and mainstreamed into National Disaster Management frameworks. 

“When a disaster is declared, the National Disaster Management Office (DMO) becomes the primary authority controlling all response and recovery efforts by all Ministries and Agencies. So while the Department of Waste is the technical lead on waste management, unless the Department’s role is officially recognised by the NDMO under the national Disaster Coordinating structure, the Department’s ability to do their, job may be limited,” Ms. Bulai added. 

Mr. Fa’afetai Sagapolutele, an expert on waste management who has been working in the region for more than 30 years and is currently with the Japanese Technical Cooperation Project for Promotion of Regional Initiative on Solid Waste Management in Pacific Island Countries, highlighted an issue that is commonly faced by Pacific island countries during disasters. 

“Usually after every disaster, we are bombarded with an influx of unsolicited bilateral donations. These come in the form of shipping containers filled with clothing items, non-perishable food items, and mountains of plastic water bottles,” Mr. Sagapolutele said. 

“Most of our Pacific Island countries do not have the capacity to effectively manage and distribute these donations and so the sad reality is that most of these items end up in the landfill,” he added. 

Mr. Sagapolutele presented that Prevention of these and other occurrences that can result in the build-up of waste is the first step of the Disaster Waste Management cycle, which can help in the reduction of waste post-disaster. 

The Response, Recovery, and Reconstruction stages of the cycle is where the importance of a circular approach comes in, as it is then that the goal of trying to divert as much waste from the landfill as possible. This is usually done at the community level.

“You will see after a disaster; locals will collect and reuse materials such as iron roofing to be rebuild their houses while they await assistance from the government, and large trees felled by cyclones are often chopped up and used to rebuild fence posts,” he added. 

The disaster waste discussions were held on the third and fourth days of the Regional Circular Economy workshop in Port Vila, Vanuatu, which discussed how a circular approach can contribute to more effective waste management practices for a cleaner Pacific.

For more information, please contact Ms. Julie Pillet at [email protected].