|
Substantive responses received by the Small Islands Voice global forum to the posting on the theme ‘Solving island garbage problems’ by Dulph Mitchell, http://www.sivglobal.org/?read=61 8th June 2004 List of contents
Substantive responses relating to other subjects (1) Albert DeTerville, St. Lucia (1) From Olwen Gill, Aran Islands Greetings from Inis Mór. Just to let you know that we here on the Aran Islands, off the west coast of Ireland, are also dealing with our waste as a resource in as far as we can. We combine our waste food and paper and cardboard to make compost saving a fortune on shipping and landfill charges. We have just purchased a glass crusher and will use the resulting ‘cullet’ in the making of concrete. We have several separate collections and the system works well. Food is collected on Mondays, cans and glass on Tuesdays from businesses (householders bring their cans bottles and jars to ‘bring bank sites’), Thursdays we collect recyclables - paper, plastics, cartons (sorted into separate bags), and Fridays we have a landfill collection. On the first Wednesday of each month, large items are collected - beds fridges etc. The system is costly but works well. I would be delighted to hear what other islands are doing to use their waste as a resource. (2) From Olwen Gill, Inis Mór, Aran Islands, Ireland Greetings from the west coast of Ireland. I recently received your e-mail on waste on your islands and although our islands are tiny in comparison we do have a problem with waste. New European directives have been introduced on how we should deal with our waste, supporting recycling, composting, diversion from landfill and we are finding it very difficult to obtain funding to meet these standards. Also we have a huge tourism industry and find that there is no way of charging for disposing of the waste they generate. We tried to have an environment levy introduced on visitors tickets but failed and so are currently operating waste management schemes on social employment schemes or, on a volunteer basis. But with these new directives come new laws pertaining to permits, licensing, insurance, so really waste has to be placed on a more serious and permanent footing. The ideal way to deal with waste is to reuse as much as possible, make compost with the biodegradable fraction, basically turn as much of it into an asset as possible – i.e. crushed glass for use in concrete, food and paper in compost etc. We are at present in negotiations with the relevant minister looking for funding but to date we have no sense of being taken too seriously. Please keep in touch, I would be interested in any developments or interesting ideas you might have. (1) From Marilene Pereira, Cap Verde Islands I’m from Cape Verde Islands, off the western African coast. We have many problems with garbage, plastic from the supermarket. I would like to know some experiences, easy to implement, to try to start on our fragile islands. Until now we don’t have any system to separate garbage, bottles, plastics or others and we import a lot of drinks in glass bottles that are continually spread on our mountains and our beaches. And, as a poor country, we don’t have a lot of money to implement a big and necessary project, in this area. It’s sad to see plastics around, on our trees, on our ocean. (1) From Bridget Hogg, Bahamas Good day. I was a university student in Jamaica in the 80's. During this time, items such as rice and flour were sold in plain brown paper bags. It would seem that the materials were imported in bulk containers and then retailed in the simple brown bag. Since we don’t actually benefit from the pretty non biodegradable bags, we should seriously consider an alternative. The brown bags had some faults in that they tore easily and did not prevent pests from entering the food stuffs. We could however consider a ‘canister sale’ approach. Consumers could opt to purchase their goods as before, or get a price discount if they brought their own standard reusable canister. (Standard units would initially be issued by retailers). Bulk imports could then be distributed in this way. To save on manpower issues, a pre-calibrated machine could be set up to issue 0.5, 1 and 2 kg amounts automatically (could a sensor read the canister size via barcode?) Its time for us in the small islands to realise that our land is in short supply and unless we eventually want to live in a dump, we have to take a more serious approach to solid waste management. Individually our purchasing power is small but as a group we DO have a voice. (2) From Stephanie, Louison, Bronson, Erin, Shannon, Nicole,Vaughn and Louivenson. Hope Town School, Hope Town, Abaco, Bahamas We here on the 5 mile long, 1 mile wide island of Hope Town, Abaco, Bahamas share the same concerns of the person from San Andreas Island with the garbage problem. We have about 400 full time Bahamian residents on our island. There are probably that many or more Haitian immigrants here too. They have no idea how important it is to take care of this island that provides them with work! They just drop trash and pile up bags all over the area they live in. We survive on the North American tourists that visit our quaint island. The sheer amount of tourists adds an unbelievable amount of garbage to our small dump that used to be burned once a week. It then became necessary to burn 2 times per week, then 3 and lately the fires never seemed to go out. As the dump got bigger-so did the fire, After Hurricane Floyd nearly destroyed our island in 1999, our dump became the drop spot for anything and everything--burnable or not! On one area of the island they bulldozed all the lumber from destroyed houses and a young man who was a marina owner took the responsibility to burn it to clear the area. Soon after, he became very ill and after 2 years in and out of hospitals, he died of arsenic poisoning due to inhaling smoke from burning the pressure treated, chemical soaked wood. Other people began to become more aware of the high incidence of respiratory problems on our island. It seemed the dump never stopped burning and we were all breathing toxic fumes. The foreign ownership and foreign building on our island increased unbelievably after the hurricane because our Prime Minister dropped the import duty on building supplies for a year to allow people to repair and build back. The foreigners took advantage of a situation that only a few Bahamians could! The garbage piled up even further---often fires at the dump would jump into the bush and we began to have terrible bush fires. The brave men who had the contract to handle the dump, wore full hazard gear when they worked there to avoid the toxins! Our island paradise was becoming a toxic wasteland! Nearly a year ago, our town began having meetings to persuade our government to transport our garbage off the island to the mainland of Abaco (5 miles across water) to their large dump. We were told that the growth of our area of the Bahamas was so great that the mainland had filled their dump, too! We increased the pressure on the government leaders by having more meetings and having them up to see the dump site--they were horrified. Our teacher took us to all the meetings with officials and we were always recognized as we took notes on what was said. It may have been the pictures in the paper of our firemen, in full hazard gear fighting a dump fire that got out of control that finally got the government’s attention. Or it might have been the letters to the government from the people who really did own the property the dump was on and had spread to, saying that effective immediately, no more dumping could take place on their land. Whatever it was, we are happy because in the next 3 months they had employed a company to come in to clear away the years of garbage and a plan to barge a truck with 2 very large containers on it to our island 3 times a week. The truck drives off and delivers empty containers and picks up the full ones to transport off our island to the mainland--which will soon have a much bigger site themselves. Our story has a happy ending---as of 3 weeks ago there will never be any more burning of garbage on our island!!! Our beautiful serene island can once again have clean air surrounding it. We wish all of the islands who have similar problems the best of luck in getting your officials to accept other methods of getting rid of your garbage other than stockpiling it on your island or dumping it in the sea, or burning and spreading toxic fumes. Remember, we students can become involved--after all we will inherit what is left of these islands and personally, we want them to remain ‘CLEAN, GREEN AND SERENE’. Happy vacation to everyone involved in this informative forum--see everyone back next fall! (1) From a writer in Barbados: Regarding solving garbage problems, D. Mitchell, you may contact S. Corbin strategy@sunbeach.net for advice In the Waste Management Experts Meeting (SIDS) which took place in the National Hotel, Havana, Cuba from October 27 to November 1 of last year, I exposed the work of the Municipality Solid Waste (MSW) Management in the Havana Bay coastal area with the procedures and methods that should be used to minimize the garbage impact in the cities. Also, I had coordinated similar works in several regions of Cuba, included small islands and in Bluefields, Nicaragua, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic and Point Lisas, Trinidad and Tobago. The work has extended, also, to the industrial and agricultural solid waste management. The majority of SIDS consists of small territories with limited access to pollution control and waste management technologies or facilities. For the solution of this problem the following is needed: public participation (environmental education); the separation of the garbage at its origin (selective collection); promotion of recycling; production of compost; reducing the quantity of waste; development of sanitary landfills. Also, the monitoring of land-based sources of marine pollution, as well as finding solutions to limit the damage of such pollutions on their coastal environment, should be high on the priority policy list of SIDS countries. Yes, the island of Haiti is facing the problem of garbage. I trust it is necessary to establish some sort of regional forum on this very important issue. (1) From Dulph Mitchell, San Andres Thank you for your interest in my query and the many answers received. I am now much more convinced that the people who live on small islands need to work together in order to aid one another in finding a solution to the very serious garbage problem that all of us are facing. St. Lucia and the other OECS countries have been able to make significant studies in improving waste management on the island. St. Lucia has been able to increase collecting services from sixty percent (60%) of the island prior to 1998 to one hundred percent (100%) by 2001. Our disposal sites are also well managed. We also have an extensive public education and awareness programme. We have acquired quite a bit and continue to improve waste management on the island. We have a good model which can serve as a guide for other countries. Since most of our service is privatised, so that the investment comes from both the government and private sector. We are now tackling other hazardous waste stream in consultation with the private sector in the areas of:
The idea of forming a consortium of islands to seek ‘green packaging’ is a good one. I suggest you expand its power by including the cruise industry. They are a large and powerful group and have a waste disposal problem similar to islands - in some respects even worse, many cruise boats have populations larger than most of the small island communities. They also have a vested interest in keeping the good will of the islands they visit. Just a thought- probably old hat to you folks, These are the best references I have come across for garbage management, including the one from SIDS (SPREP) itself. While it may not seem obvious that the small island nations and western Alaska have many issues in common, we do have attributes of low-elevation communities, very small habitable areas, surrounded by water, no roads (except in winter but only between villages), rapid population growth and consumerism, etc. Manuals available to assist communities with solid waste planning and education: Changing Waste in Changing Times, 1994, Northwest Renewable Resources Center, Seattle. (Shirley Moses, author). Curriculum guide for teachers in rural areas of Alaska, developed with Alaska Health Project. Copies available through ADEC. Trash Management Guide, 1992, Anchorage: Alaska Health Project. (Margaret Drumm) A guide for completing a solid waste management plan for small, rural villages in Alaska. Copies available through ADEC. Landfills in the Bush: A Guide to Opening, Maintaining, and Closing Remote Solid Waste Sites, 1996, Association of Village Council Presidents, Inc. (Alicia Porter and Fredianne Gray). Copies available through AVCP, Inc. (907 543-3521 or 800 478-3521) or US EPA's Alaska office in Anchorage (1-800- 781-0984) Solid Solutions in Rural Alaska, 1996, US EPA. (Terri Stocks). A guide for individuals, schools, and communities to reduce their solid waste, as a part of a community's solid waste management program. Copies available through EPA's Alaska office in Anchorage (1-800- 781-0984). Manual for Assessment of Open Dumping on Indian Lands: Site Closure and Management. 1996, Bureau of Indian Affairs. (Lynn Zender and George Tchobanoglous). Copies available from Jim LeBret, BIA Portland Area Office, (503 231-6809) or ADEC. Taking Charge... Sanitation Strategies for Rural Communities (A Resource for Effective Local Planning), 1998, Univ. of Alaska Southeast/Sitka. (Jeffrey Richardson) The guide focuses on wastewater facilities but the principles of community planning will be useful for solid waste management planning. Copies available from John Carnegie, Ph.D., (907 747-7755 or 1-800-478-6653) or ADEC. Guidelines for Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) in the Arctic, 1997, Finnish Ministry of the Environment. (Arctic Environment Protection Strategy). Available through ADEC or from Richard Wilderman, US MMS (703-787-1670). Guidelines for Municipal Solid Waste Planning in Small Island Developing States in the Pacific Region, 1999, Apia, Samoa: South Pacific Regional Environmental Programme (SPREP). ISBN-982-04-0200-X. Possibly available through ADEC or contact SPREP at PO Box 240, Apia, Samoa, e-mail sprep@prep.org.ws, website: http://www.sprep.org.ws I am responding to your issue of excessive garbage. I would like to give my opinion as to solutions being used today to remove garbage out of cities in the U.S.A. If the price is affordable, use barges to move garbage great distances to countries that would be willing for a price to allow your island to use a certain area in their country to dispose of your debris. Or start a recycling program which would require a complete recovery of paper, aluminium, cardboard boxes, cans, glass bottles and anything else that can be collected from your citizens and sold back to the manufacturers that produced that product and packaging. Your island would make money from recycling, but just to break even or buy equipment to support the effort. I did see a recycling program on television which showed a big warehouse where the recycled debris was taken to be sorted out, then each type of debris was trucked off to be recycled by the company who was interested in making something else out of the debris. Most of the time recycled products are used in construction of a country’s infrastructure and to produce new product packaging. I hope my suggestions were clear enough that you can do something with them. (1) From Aida, Chumbe Island, Tanzania Thank you for the
article, it is very informative. I would like any other information
on recycling you have. I would also like solutions to the "plastic
bag disposal" issue. I have developed projects in rug making and
small items development from plastic bags, but there is still the issue
of what to do with them after these products have expired. (1) From Meera Boodhram, Mauritius It's been a long time that I have been receiving these emails from you. And I took my time to read them. To find that there are people fighting to protect the environment has made me feel really good. This is a very personal feeling. In fact I work in a multi national organisation where I deal a lot in the improvement of environment, based here in Mauritius also a small island. We are marketing a model of incinerator South African made. Once wastes are incinerated, they can then be used as fertilizers whatever their origin. (2) From Elahee Doomum, Mauritius We are enclosing herewith a short note on what is being done in the island of Mauritius on the issue of solid waste disposal, for your information. This report comes from the Ministry of Finance and Economic Development, Republic of Mauritius, 29 June 2004. A first National Environmental Action Plan (NEAP 1) was developed in 1988 in response to the realisation that economic growth in Mauritius could not be sustained without paying attention to the effects that such growth was having on the environment. The NEAP 1 presents a detailed and comprehensive review of environmental problems as well as extensive recommendations for future actions to solve the problems identified. This was the first step towards the protection of the environment which was translated into action by the formulation of 32 projects under the umbrella of the Environment Investment Programme (EIP 1). These projects have significantly contributed to the progress, which has been made in environmental protection over the past decade. In particular, a policy, legislative and institutional framework for environmental management was established. These projects were grouped into seven categories, namely: (i) Institutional Strengthening; (ii) Land Management and Tourism; (iii) Industry, Sewerage and Solid Waste Management; (iv) Agriculture; (iv) Marine Conversation; (v) Terrestrial Conservation; and (vii) Financial Incentives. Ten years after the implementation of the NEAP 1, an NEAP II has been formulated under the National Environmental Strategies for the coming decade. Both NEAPs have identified solid waste management as one of the main environmental problems facing Mauritius and have privileged the solid waste and wastewater sectors as a priority for financing. Several studies have been carried out to address the issue of solid waste management in Mauritius. In 1993, the firm Scott Wilson and Kirkpatrick was commissioned to prepare a National Solid Waste Management Plan (NSWMP) to be used as a basis for solid waste management action planning. The study recommended, inter alia, the construction of two landfills, at Mare D’Australia and Mare Chicose, along with a network of transfer stations. However, only one sanitary landfill was constructed at Mare Chicose and operations started in 1997. This has led to the closing of all the open dumps and the conversion of some of the transfer stations. The landfill site at Mare Chicose is a fully engineered sanitary landfill and is the first one in the Indian Ocean region. The 1994 National Solid Waste Management Plan have brought marked improvement in the solid waste collection and disposal in Mauritius. The other landfill project at Mare D’Australia was abandoned because of socio-political reasons. The other recommendations of the National Solid Waste Management Plan could not be fully implemented due to lack of funds and absence of clear-cut institutions for waste management. In 1998, Consultants Brown and Root were commissioned to review the NSWMP, following the abandonment of the landfill project at Mare D’Australia. The consultants recommended, among others, the construction of two waste-to-energy incinerators on Build-Operate-Transfer (BOT) or Build-Own-Operate (BOO) Schemes. This recommendation was not based on empirical data and tests, and the World Bank considered that there was a need to take a holistic approach to Solid Waste Management in an integrated manner. This would involve collection, storage, transportation and also the institutional, legal and cost aspects for disposal of both hazardous and non-hazardous wastes. In August 1999, Fichtner GmbH, a German firm of consultants, was appointed to conduct a Feasibility Study as well as an Institutional, Legal and Cost Recovery Study for an Environmental Solid Waste Management Programme for Mauritius and Rodrigues. The Consultants have recommended six scenarios for Solid Waste disposal in the short, medium and long term. The scenarios include landfilling, incineration and composting. Waste generation is also projected for a period covering up to year 2020. In April 2002, a new National Solid Waste Management Strategy was approved for implementation, giving greater emphasis, as a mater of priority, to waste minimization, material recycling and recycling through composting. Waste minimization will decrease the amount of waste to be disposed of, thereby decreasing the pressure on Mare Chicose Landfill. Waste recycling is expected to bring economic and environmental gains from a reduction of waste quantities for treatment and disposal. This new strategic plan on solid waste management rests on the following:
The Mare Chicose Landfill which was originally planned to receive 300 tonnes of waste daily has been receiving about 1000 tonnes. The life span of the disposal site has been dramatically reduced from 19 years to 8 years (i.e. up to 2006). The present waste collection and disposal systems are still inadequate. It is estimated that around 12% (approximately 150 tonnes/day) of municipal waste is not collected while some 25 tonnes of construction and demolition wastes per day are disposed of in an uncontrolled and illegal manner. Littering and dumping are causing serious environmental problems which are now being addressed in the new NSWMS. Government has, in 2003, commissioned:
The draft final report of the consultants on the feasibility study recommends the following:
It should be noted that the Ministry of Public Utilities has shown strong reservations on the site of La Chaumiere for the new Waste Complex, given that drinking water intake near the area is distributed to the whole Plaine Wilhems region. The waste complex would thus pose strong risks of aquifer contamination. The final report of the feasibility study is still being awaited. Garbage is and will become a very serious problem in Mauritius. Right now, the Mauritian government has responded by creating landfills e.g. at Marechicose. Mauritius is a small island (around 1,000 km2) having 1.2 million souls with something around 250,000 vehicles. The big question is how to get rid of all these vehicles in 20-30 years in an environmentally friendly manner? (More landfills/recycling/encourage public transport, restrict number of vehicles). This issue has not yet arrived on the table of the politicians, but it will come definitely. I have something
to contribute about Mauritius. I have been meaning to write for some
months so I hope it is not too late. We believe in keeping the world clean. We are not profit driven as long as the plant operations can cover its cost and pay back the loan, it is fine for us to build it. We manufacture, install and operate a thermal converter. This is much unlike an incinerator, it is very clean because it operates at 1600-1700C and produces a glass like residue that can be used for making roads etc. We recently made a proposal to the government of Mauritius for this waste to energy system. This would save money, as high oil and coal prices mean more expenditure. Not to mention that the 'fuel' is 'green'. In Mauritius only CO2 emissions are measured. and the millions of tons of landfill producing methane are totally ignored. We would be happy to help any small island that needs a clean solid waste disposal system. I can send them a proposal. Thanks hope this helps in some way to your cause. We are action oriented and not just words. (4) From Andre Lim (2nd), Mauritius I am currently in another small island state, Singapore, and the situation here is so much better but the land reclamation, ocean going vessels, toxic waste and sewage sludges are still problems to be solved. We have an elaborate deep tunnel water treatment system. (5) From L. Razafindrazaka, Mauritius As Chairman of a network of NGOs of small islands of the Indian Ocean Region of Africa comprising the islands of Comoros, Madagascar, Mauritius, Reunion and Seychelles, I totally support your view. We are very much aware of the problem and we are even contemplating to submit a Statement from our Network (Development Indian Ocean Network, commonly known as DION) to the AOSIS (SIDS) Conference taking place in Mauritius. We would like to build up alliances and if you have any idea on how we could collaborate, we are very open for it. (1) From Patrick Finniss, Rodrigues I appreciate to receive your reports (Small Islands Voice) and today I am able to collaborate and bring forward some suggestions that are being applied in our small island regarding the disposal of garbage. I am living in Rodrigues Island, it's a territory of Mauritius situated in the Indian Ocean, our island area is 117 km2, the main objective of the Government actually is to preserve the island ecologically, because it is also fully concentrating on the tourism industry and recently many environmental plans have been put forward for a clean and safe environment. Firstly, we have
a garbage area, like all other countries but now the population participates
in the disposal of their domestic garbage by classification, e.g. So at each domestic house, firms or elsewhere, there should be 3 garbage boxes available, or 1 garbage box separated in 3 partitions. This is actually reducing considerably the volume of garbage being thrown inside the garbage area because, the industry supplying the cans and plastic bottle are obliged to import machinery to cut into tiny pieces the plastic bottles and press them, and to do the same thing for cans. So garbage collected by the garbage companies from domestic houses and firms mainly delivers the plastic bottles and the cans directly to the importing company to be crushed and recycled. Secondly, the population is being taught how to make compost from the remaining garbage, such as leaves, grass etc. They are being given some kind of plastic drum and they prepare the compost which they can use or even sell as fertilizers. Our Government is still elaborating other plans for a clean environment, regarding our seas. In the meantime, I would be pleased to collaborate with your organization regarding other subjects. (1) From Roy Ausage, American Samoa The problem of garbage control in the Pacific and Small Island States must be resolved at the level of politicians. Workshops to train locals to recycle, reuse, perhaps bury garbage may not work if an island is in the middle of nowhere and the cost of transporting items for recycling to places such as New Zealand, Australia and the US have proven to be very costly. I worked for the American Samoa Power Authority and as a quasi government agency, we are responsible for power, water, sewer and also SOLID WASTE, including collecting of scrap metal. A bill has been submitted to our local legislature to force this issue on importers of goods such as sodas, water and other beverage to pay a certain fee for every purchase and get a refund if the container is returned to the importer. For example, the importer will be charged by the government for every single item that enters the territory. I believe 5 cents per item. The importer then adds this cost to the item. When the customer purchases a soda and returns the can, he/she will get a refund of 5 cents from the importer and upon confirmation that the importer has shipped out of the territory this can to the US for recycling, then he gets his 5 cents refunded. This is what I meant by the resolving this issue at the level of politicians. The South Pacific Community is comprised of heads of government from all Pacific Island Countries and Territories. This should be an item in the agenda of the next meeting. (1) From Paul Harris, Australia Have you considered anaerobic digestion as a possible solution, as it will provide energy from the waste material while reducing pathogens and organic loading? (1) From Temu Okotai, Cook Islands Regarding solid waste problems in small island environments, I was reading last night an article about a young New Zealand mother who is developing a method of composting plastic nappies. This is one of the most difficult and prevalent solid wastes that is causing a lot of problems in our islands. So far, this girl's project, while attracting a lot of international interest, is still an expensive process. The other alternative is to ban disposable nappies from the islands altogether. The Cook Islands’ Minister of Health, a few years back, proposed this to the government but he did not get sufficient support to get the ban adopted. As the danger and costs to islands environments escalate, and awareness of this threat among the community grows, the time will come when difficult choices by island communities have to be made. The main island of Rarotonga is constructing a new multi million solid waste disposal site, but this is to cater for the island's needs over the next 15-20 years. Finding and securing the current site took ten years and it is almost impossible to find another similar site when this one is full. Thus our choices get more difficult. (2) From Joseph Wachter, Cook Islands On the island of Rarotonga in the Cook Islands, central Pacific Ocean, garbage is fed to pigs or decomposed, but trash in the form of plastics, aluminum cans, tin cans, rubber tires, etc has been a big concern for over 25 years. Educating the children in schools about recycling and proper disposal of waste has been a priority for environmentalists here for over 20 years with limited success and awareness of the problem. Older people are much harder to reach. Media of all kinds has been employed. I think it is a gradual process that will eventually be very successful; but will require years of awareness training. Start now and keep at it. Contact local radio, TV, and press to enlist them to help reach the people. Make presentations at primary and secondary schools. Be a good example in your community. My secondary school has a wearable arts competition made of recycled materials every year. Following on the debate on waste in Pacific Island nations, I continue to be appalled at the way plastic carrier bags are freely provided by all retail outlets and, within Fiji for example, all fruit and vegetable market stalls. Most of this plastic becomes waste, which ends up strewn along the foreshore, or in gullies, drains and rivers. Fiji has recently commenced a positive '3 R' media campaign to: 'Reduce, Reuse and Recycle'. This needs to be matched by proactive fiscal support from Government. There are useful lessons that we can learn from developed nations. In many European countries, supermarkets charge customers heavily for the provision of plastic bags, encouraging instead the use of relatively inexpensive reusable/washable calico bags or reusable carriers. The move to tax the providers of plastic bags (a tax which is passed on to the consumers) is also rapidly reducing their use, as detailed in the article below from the RICS (www.rics.org) website: Plastic bag tax for Scotland? (source: http://www.rics.org/ricscms/bin/show?class=News&template=/includes/shownews. html&id=9649) 09 August 2004 A decision on whether Scotland will follow Ireland in the introduction of a tax on plastic carrier bags is yet to emerge after consultation closed on the subject in May. The Irish plastic bag tax was introduced in March 2002 at about 10 pence per bag and is reported to have reduced consumption very rapidly by 90%. Liberal Democrat MSP, Mike Pringle introduced a member's bill for a similar levy in Scotland last year. Such a tax would be permitted in the devolved administrations provided that it was for local authority expenditure and that the revenues collected are used locally. Under the proposed Scottish tax, local authorities would collect a levy from businesses for each plastic bag given away to customers. The businesses would be obliged to pass the levy on directly to the customer at point of sale. After running costs are deducted, the local authorities would have to ring-fence the levy income for environmental projects. Estimated revenues rates for Scotland are £10 m per year. The proposals met with considerable opposition by a lobby group for the plastic bag manufacturers which formed in response to the Irish bag tax. The Scottish Retail Consortium is also reported to oppose the levy on grounds of being put at a disadvantage to the rest of the UK. However, there is reported to be some interest among Scottish ministers in taking the proposals further forward. This is not the case down south. The Treasury has restated its position that there were 'no plans' for a similar UK-wide tax. The government has argued that since plastic bags make up only 1% of the waste stream, taxing them would be unlikely to have any significant impact on waste volumes. As Small Island States strive to address sustainable development, it is time to incorporate fiscal penalties for plastic use (bags and PEP bottles) into evolving environmental protection legislation. I would welcome feedback from respondents in other small island nations. (2) From Shaneel Chandra, Fiji It seems like the waste problems we are facing in the Pacific and other smaller islands around the world are similar in nature. Here in Fiji, the waste scenario is no different, as Viola Koch (see below) points out. Municipal waste disposal is exactly that - there is no arrangement in rural and remote areas. Even in municipal areas, there are other problems. Firstly, the waste is never sorted. This means the waste receptacle is a heterogeneous mix of organics, metallics, chemicals at times, paper, plastic etc. In smaller municipalities, everything in the receptacle is often burnt, irrespective of what the composition is. Apart from obvious problems such as visual pollution, there are other hidden ones such as emission of noxious gases (from industrial waste), and dioxins and furans (from plastics). In Suva, the capital, the waste is currently dumped at Lami, outside the city. This dump is soon to be replaced by a EU-funded modern landfill, which is expected to cater for the growing population of Suva and its outskirts and nearby towns. A modern landfill (not dump as in other parts of Fiji) would have been the ideal point to commence with waste sorting. Unfortunately, the authorities went ahead without evaluating the importance of educating the public on how to sort their waste. A landfill can only work if the waste is sorted and characterized, and disposed of accordingly. This does not seem to be likely in the case at Lami. The developed and larger nations have undergone similar challenges, but have eventually found solutions to them. It would be ideal if we learn from their mistakes and adopt their successes in combating the waste issue. Thanks for this...an excellent piece and an excellent and important initiative. We are a small dive resort in one of the Fiji islands. And yes, we do have a big garbage problem. There is no official trash pick up. We bury all of our garbage or the large resort which does not have so much space, dumps it into the ocean. Not a pretty sight. What are you doing with it? Thanks for the logical message........I enjoyed and learned a lot. (6) From Fabrice Mathieux, Fiji Referring to your message of 8th of June, my response to your questions would be: Is the disposal of garbage a problem in other islands? Yes, of course! Garbage/solid waste production is definitely one of the major illnesses of your world and is an effect of the development of consumption. To my knowledge, solid waste management is a problem in all Small Islands Developing States, in the Caribbean, in the Pacific and in the Indian Ocean. Before, waste produced was mainly biodegradable and throwing it could be sustained by the environment. Now, with increasing quantity, non-biodegradable and sometimes hazardous contents, the new challenge for SIDS is to safely dispose waste. In the Caribbean and in the Pacific, I know countries are slowly switching (often helped by donor agencies) from open dump (no planning, no management) to so-called sanitary landfill (protection of soils, control of leachate, planning, control of inputs) that should contribute to improve the situation. How is garbage managed in other islands? Garbage (I prefer to use ‘solid waste’!) is managed using different ways. As I wrote earlier, there is a big trend in islands to build regional (for several cities or towns) sanitary landfills with high quality standards. It permits them to concentrate the solid waste in one place and to make it managed by trained people. There is indeed a trend among SIDS to switch from ‘dealing/coping with garbage’ to ‘managing solid waste’ where composition and quantities are known, disposal is planned, etc. However, considering that SIDS have got small areas available (and also because of other environmental and economical reasons), landfill is not THE perfect solution for solid waste: it is a lot of depletion of space, of valuable resources and it implies pollution! So SIDS should embark
towards more preventative approaches and apply, as far as possible,
the following hierarchy (in order of preference): But to my knowledge, it is a pretty much new trend! However, I think this should be encouraged! Isn't there some way in which islands can work together and cooperate in solving the threatening garbage problems? Yes, there are ways! And even more importantly, as SIDS share the same problematic (small size, remoteness, low technological development, increasing imported products consumption), SIDS HAVE TO cooperate!! For such a difficult issue, we need to learn from the others (from their faults and more importantly their successes). I know that SIDSNET had organised a workshop on Solid waste management in 2003 (Waste Management Experts Meeting (SIDS) La Habana, Cuba, 28/10-1/11 2003) (see e.g. http://www.sidsnet.org/docshare/other/20031105164530_WASTED_ISLANDS_-_Draft_Thaman_et_al._for_CD_28.10.03.doc). We, at the University of the South Pacific, are leading a regional research project on integrated solid waste management through which we try to promote preventative approach (see http://www.usp.ac.fj/pace/projects/waste/waste.html; http://www.usp.ac.fj/pace/). We try to work with the governments, the private sector the NGOs of the 12 SIDS country members of our University. As far as we can, we try to exchange with SIDS in other regions. We definitely are also ready to cooperate with other organizations. The stories on the problems faced by those youths are real and we must learn from them. Recently an officer from my organization visited some small islands west of Fiji where Eco-tourist resorts are sprouting. It is amazing that most of those resorts are not ready to handle waste produced daily. At least there is much to be learned from experiences of those youths. I am residing in Fiji, but originally have lived in Kiribati for the last 30years. However I am attaching below a story about Kiribati's mountainous waste. From my personal point of view and Greenpeace, I would like to say that the best possible solution is to reduce production of these wastes, especially plastic wastes, wrappers, packages etc. and at same time stop the importation of packed stuff. Make laws in the country to import bulk containers of food stuff which could be repacked within the country by recyclable materials. These foods in particular, cooking oils, rice, flours, soft drinks, beers sell only in bars or restaurants; also to stop importation of plastic bags for shoppers. Plastic materials and aluminium cans do not biodegrade and people and the government should be aware that plastic products are very toxic when burned in the back yard or incinerated, they emit toxics chemicals (dioxin & furans) which lead to lung cancer and other respiratory diseases. Landfilling and especially incineration are not the solutions to the waste problems. Let me give you part of a speech by one very well known scientific researcher on waste management issues with the special emphasis on the dangers posed by the incineration and the safer and more sustainable non-burn alternatives. His name is Dr. Paul Connett. ‘Society's task is not to perfect the destruction of our waste, but to find ways to avoid making it. Municipal waste is a low tech problem. It is made by mixing. It is unmade by separation. Both problem and solution are at our fingertips, not on the drawing boards of Swiss or Swedish engineers (talking about incineration or landfilling designs). In the longer term, after the citizen has played his or her part by supporting source separation, reuse, recycling, composting and toxic removal, industry has to pay more attention to the way objects and materials are made and used. How an object is going to be used or recycled has to be built into the initial design decisions.’ I hope this gives a broader perspective on what to do and not do for the protection of human health and the environment. However I would like to suggest these websites for further information. Presentation on
municipal waste incineration (1998) Presentation on
plastics (1996) Stop Cancer article
(1999) on Dioxins Gold Coast Bulletin,
Edition W – Weekender, Saturday 22 MAY 2004, Page W07 Sandy, palmy, steamy Kiribati is among the smallest of small island states in the Pacific whose beauty is being slowly eroded away by growing mountains of rubbish. Charles Hanley reports. On the beach at Bloody Tarawa, where US Marines died by the hundreds, broken bottles, crushed boxes and plastic bags are now piling up by the millions. Rotting under the equatorial sun, the garbage of an open dump is spreading over a section of World War II's Red Beach, a strip of sand hallowed in US history. It's a sign of the crisis of solid waste that threatens to overwhelm the tiny atolls of the Pacific, tropical paradises whose beauty already is often marred by layers of debris - rubbish with nowhere to go. Here on Tarawa atoll, a curl of small, narrow and overcrowded coral islands ringing an aquamarine lagoon, the Kiribati government is making slow progress, opening one trash landfill and building another. But island governments everywhere say they need more help. ‘We urgently need access to effective and affordable technologies, including recycling equipment, before this issue of wastes becomes critical,’ Jagdish Koonjul of Mauritius, head of the Alliance of Small Island States, told a UN conference in March. Sandy, palmy, steamy Kiribati is among the smallest of small island states - a mere 680sq/km of dry land, often inaccessible, on 32 atolls spread over five million square kilometres of ocean, midway between Hawaii and Australia. The shortage of space forces hard choices, like putting the first engineered landfill in a location earmarked for national parkland. "For a country like us, who don't have land, we are running out of options," said Tererei Abete-Reema, Kiribati's deputy environment director. In 1997, the option was historic Red Beach, on the lagoon side of the Tarawa atoll's Betio island. An area several hundred metres long was designated as a dump. Sixty years ago, on November 20, 1943, the US 2nd Marine Division came ashore there to seize Tarawa, in World War II's first major amphibious assault on heavily fortified Japanese positions. The Marines' eventual victory was costly. A mistaken landing at low tide left them exposed offshore on the coral reef, under deadly Japanese fire. More than 3400 Americans were killed or wounded in four days of fighting. Only 146 of 4800 Japanese troops and Korean labourers survived. Bunkers and rusting landing craft still dot the shore and reefs, but history has moved on. The Gilbert Islands, a former British colony, gained independence as Kiribati in 1979, to subsist by selling coconut products, aquarium fish and licences to fishing fleets. The impoverished population, meantime, exploded to today's 90,000. At least 30,000 are jammed on to 113-hectare Betio, many in plywood/thatch shacks, with no sewage system, contaminated groundwater and with the accumulating garbage of Red Beach. "They're throwing away 100 tonnes of aluminium cans a year in Tarawa," said Alice Leney of the Foundation for the Peoples of the South Pacific, an aid group helping Kiribati manage its waste. Plastic bottles, bags and other packaging are piling up just as fast. One survey suggested that under half the 6500 tonnes of solid waste Tarawa produces each year is carted by town council workers to the government's six surface dumps. Much of the rest - what isn't burned - litters the islands in uncontrolled heaps, between houses, along beaches, sometimes to be carried off by the tides and deposited elsewhere. To contain the Red Beach overflow, a seawall was built at the dump, with loan money from the Asian Development Bank. The $A14.37m bank program has also financed the design and building of the two landfills - one just completed 6.4km east of Betio on South Tarawa, and the other under construction 6km farther east on that larger island. The first site already has problems: the Japanese construction company did not install a liner in the bottom to keep lagoon water out and to keep contaminants from seeping into the lagoon. Planners hope to find a private enterprise to operate the landfills, just as Leney's foundation hopes to interest recyclers in Kiribati's unclaimed aluminium cans, plastic bottles and cardboard. Potential profits may be too small, however, to justify costly recycling technology, while transport costs are too great to justify shipping out the cast offs. In hopes of laying the groundwork, the foundation has launched a campaign - Kaoki Mange! Gilbertese for Send the Rubbish Back! - and set up collection points for recyclables. "We've been trying to build a model for atolls and take it to the Marshall Islands and Tuvalu," Leney said, referring to two nearby island nations. In a place so poor and remote, 'it won't be easy' to subdue the growing mountains of waste, said environment deputy Abete-Reema. ‘We will probably stumble,’ she said. "It took us almost a decade to get this far. (2) From Alice Leney, Kiribati The following is
written by the Coordinator of a program to improve the Solid Waste Management
(SWM) of Tarawa, the capital of Kiribati, in the Central Pacific. Cardboard is principally
recovered from business (everything is imported in a cardboard box)
and the advantage to the business is that they get a free removal of
a bulky part of their waste stream. This same system can be used
to recover cars and fridges for example, using a larger deposit. The
required legislation for the Container Deposit system has gone through
its first reading in Parliament.
(1) From Philippa Stevenson, New Zealand I'm a New Zealand columnist, and on your emailing list. I wrote a column for the July 20 edition of the New Zealand Herald based, in part, on some of the opinions expressed in recent SIV emails on garbage. The column can be viewed on the website: www.nzherald.co.nz/dialogue (go to July 20 columns). (2) From Perya Short, New Zealand I've read with interest the comment feature on rubbish and small island states (see above) and thought you might be interested to learn of the work our group, Sustainable Project Management, is doing in this sector in the Pacific. Attached is our project profile for an integrated municipal solid waste programme which we are currently implementing with the government of Samoa. Once completed it is hoped it can be replicated for other island states in the Pacific, and indeed elsewhere in the world. We have been working on this since August 2000, so in that time we have also met many people from other island states in the region which are facing similar issues. You might like to pass this on to your contacts at smallislandsvoice.org as they might be able to advise their municipal officials that there are actual projects happening to try and solve waste issues for small islands. For further information our website is www.spminternational.com. Please feel free to call me if you have any questions. The same thing as happening to us here in Palau, a very small island with a population of 15,000, around 11,000 natives and the rest are foreigners. Our one and only garbage dump is getting smaller by the minute, so our congress men are relocating some of the garbage to another part of the island The foreigners don't care where the trash goes because they don't have to stay here like us islanders. We have people working everyday cleaning the streets, picking up trash. I think that is one of the main reasons why the trash is everywhere, because they know somebody is going to pick it up and put the trash in the right place, which is the trash can. Nowadays with the import of all kinds of food, and materials the problem keeps getting worse. There are a lot of programs here in Palau that should be helping us solve the problem, like Earth Day, signs by certain groups, and entities all around Palau, but I don't see the change. I'm from a small island in Papua New Guinea, in the New Ireland Province called Emirau Island. We, Emirau, need your help about this garbage problem affecting our land that food cannot grow properly. Firstly the remains of the World War between America and Japan are still around the island. We have live bullets, bombs, TNT, motors, bottles, rotten drums and much more. This is really affecting our land and food and even cash crops cannot grow. If any of you come and visit my island you'll be very sorry to see how we've been surviving. I need your help because without our island the Americans wouldn't have won this war, and even Papua New Guinea would not live in peace and have a peaceful independence. So with this note I need your help with this matter. (1) From Vaasiliifiti Moelagi Jackson, Savaii, Samoa Greetings to everyone with the same small island concern. I am a positive community worker from our beautiful island of Savaii. Our Faasao Savaii Society preaches the good word of diminishing rubbish and keeping Savaii clean. Our Executive Council consist of mainly women and men who hold prominent posts in their villages, therefore have some authority to impose the campaign into their own village as part of their on going projects. For example our Pulenuu or the Government Representative in their villages has to go round inspecting the village and their plantations every month; so with the women’s Committee weekly inspection of village homes. The purpose varies every week and month although the women’ inspection is mainly for health purposes. Therefore our role is to convince and make our people believe wholeheartedly that Savaii is our home and our heritage from God, therefore it is our responsibility to keep it clean and avoid as much as possible creating, buying or importing rubbish. We have a collection system although it is quite noticeable that the collection is not increasing in bulk. Therefore we have to keep on putting pressure towards our people to be responsible for their own good. As a hotel operator I do agree with Marcos Kappenberger (see below) as 75% of our hotel’s food supply is locally produced. The hotel has three collecting bins, only one of those bins goes to the truck collection every week. One goes to our pigs, and one goes to compost or recycle like papers, plastic bottles and any piece of iron. (2) From Marcos Kappenberger, Samoa Estimados amigos en San Andres! Dear small islands friends! Dear friends in San Andres, which I visited years back and liked very much. San Andres’ problem of garbage disposal can be reduced by greatly improving the children's and youth' education, so to prevent it. Also, to the extent the traditional and more healthy food growing locally is eaten in the traditional way, the less garbage will result and the more healthy the population will be. Throughout history, different nations have repeatedly tried to justify and guarantee their sovereignty over a territory by encouraging immigration there, and the decision of the International Court of Justice will be interesting, but finally the world is one country, humankind its citizens, one family, in which all human beings can live in dignity. Born in Switzerland, also a small island because landlocked... and now also an island in the EU, I'm now also a citizen of independent Samoa and live here in tropical Polynesia, where our Government, with international expertise, is doing an increasingly great job in handling the question of garbage disposal. In this Pacific Ocean, one of the most uncontaminated pollution-free regions of our planet, several big nations have tried often to buy areas where to dump their garbage, and often the most dangerous chemicals or even radioactive waste! But usually the small nations have had the wisdom to reject these offers. Yes, there is certainly a great deal of expertise that can be shared: from education to technical disposal know-how, and to the information about the donors who will help to make it possible with funding and experienced specialists with success stories from other small island countries in their CVs. As mentioned at the beginning, it is most important to undertake not to create excessive waste! It depends really very much on the population, their government and, besides better environmental education, how wisely all the steps will be undertaken that will increasingly reduce the amount of waste created. I think there is not much we can suggest for a solution if we are not clear what kind of excessive garbage we are talking about here. I am not a garbage expert, but I am quite conscious of the problem in my own islands of Samoa. Our government is now looking at the problem as well trying to find ways of dealing with it, e.g. creating land fills as well as running workshops and awareness programs encouraging people to re-use, recycle, and composting for fertilizer. Despite all these efforts, I do not think it will ever provide a satisfactory solution. The trouble is, our politicians our not fully committed to what they have devised as laws to our country. Our Health Department has been campaigning against cigarette smoking, spending a lot of our tax money on awareness programs, as well legislating against smoking in certain public grounds. However recently, our government granted a license to a cigarette manufacturing company to operate in Samoa despite the existence of another one which has been operating here for many years. This is what I called a government removing its own foreskin, in Samoan, ‘ua nofo lava le tagata ma toe peli ia’. I would say the same thing to their efforts in trying to deal with garbage. Many businesses are still bringing in plastic paper bags for shopping and there is also a plastic paper bag factory operating here. Plastic paper bags, something that takes years to decompose and rot, are all over in the country even in the rural areas. A Keep Samoa Clean program run by the Tourism Authority has helped a lot to make our streets and villages looked free from plastic paper bags. But you will be amazed what you will find behind our houses both in town as well in the rural villages, heaps of paper bags. A rubbish collection program run by the government does not even help. Good to have fire man, people are burning them, and therefore contributing to the damage of our ozone layer, as well the accumulation of poison gases in our environment. What I am saying, is the government should have been laying down legislation to ban the importation of plastic paper bags. But the trouble is the government is hungry for money, the root of all evils according to the Bible. I feel sympathetic about the Archipelago of San Andres, an island of that size of only 27 square kilometres, if you have the same problem, as you will find within a few more years, you will not only swim in excessive garbage, but will of course have a bed of garbage to sleep in. Just look at your politicians, what are they doing about your problem. Governments always put economic reasons before healthy and a safe environment, despite what you see as their effort to provide solutions to our problem. They need money for their political goals, as well as a means to hang on to power; they do not care how their decisions affect you. It is pleasing to read articles from young people of the Small Islands Voice. After all it has also been recognized from the young people that it is the legacy that they will inherit and it must matter for them. Equally pleasing to note that the coordinator of the Small Islands Voice encouraging young people to participate in this forum. Keep up the excellent work. I hesitate to write
as I am neither from a small island nor live on one. I work in many
small island locations which is how I learned of this network.
(1) From Albert DeTerville, St. Lucia The Secretariat of the Caribbean Antilles Indigenous Peoples Caucus & the Diaspora, CAIPCD, would appreciate making contact with a national representative of the Indigenous People of the San Andres, Providencia and Santa Catalina. Dear friends of Small Islands Voice, Would you like to share your voices with friends from islands around the world? Welcome to attend the forthcoming ISLANDS OF THE WORLD VIII conference to be held from November 1-7, 2004, on Kinmen Island (Taiwan)! As a member of International Small Islands Studies Association (ISISA), we are hoping that more scholars and practitioners with an interest in islands will join us and share ideas at the conference. Your further help in distributing conference invitations would be very much appreciated. Attached, please find the conference announcement. There is also a registration form that can be faxed back to the Conference Secretariat (Fax: +886-2-2363-4891). Online registration is also an option. Please register the conference and book your accommodation as soon as possible. And don’t hesitate to ask me any questions regarding registration, accommodation and travel planning. In addition, here are a few dates of note: * Abstract Submission
Deadline (June 20, 2004) You are also very welcome to bring posters, books, or brochures to the exhibition zone at the conference venue. Look very forward to meeting you all on Kinmen Island and Taiwan! Huei-Min Tsai, Secretary
of the Scientific Committee, Islands of the World VIII Conference Organizing
Committee, National Taiwan Normal University, Taipei 116, Taiwan |