Community Spirit to bring people together to keep Savai'i, Samoa Clean.

Reimagining the plastic life cycle and waste management requires new and innovative means to redesign, re-cycle, and re-distribute plastics across a variety of industries.
The fashion and clothing industry is one area that has increasingly recognized plastic use and is starting to rethink the the contribution to the problem and opportunities for innovative solutions--all of which we need to reduce the overall consumption, use, disposal and transport of plastic waste to ISLANDS countries and communities.
The designer Tom Ford along with the nonprofit Lonely Whale powered a global competition to source and scale marine-safe and biologically degradable alternatives to traditional thin-film plastic made from fossil fuels--of which the fashion and beverage industry contributes to massively.
Winners were announced after rigorous testing across environmental, economic and social metrics for sustainability, with testing done in the Caribbean and elsewhere. And all of the options include seaweed as base to the alternatives of thin-film plastic.
The winners are:
Sway — a US-based company offering seaweed-based, home-compostable replacements for regenerative thin-film plastic packaging at scale;

Zerocircle — an India-based company making wildlife and ocean-safe packaging materials from locally cultivated seaweed that will dissolve harmlessly in the ocean after use;

Notpla — a London-based startup inspired by the way nature encapsulates liquids, on a mission to make plastic waste disappear by pioneering natural-membrane packaging that uses seaweed as an alternative to single-use plastic.

Check out the article and learn more about the organizations redesigning for biodegradable plastic.

And…We are out!!

Today, ISLANDS is launching #ISLANDSVoices – a ISLANDS produced video series aiming to spotlight and share waste & chemicals stories from SIDS around the world!

This first video is dedicated to the winner of the ISLANDS Call to Action on Plastics, Leon Labuga, who shared the story of the Solomon Islands 2022 Clean-up Day. Congratulations Leon!

Quick reminder that the Gender Equality Call to Action is still open, so don’t miss the opportunity to submit your story!

Have you heard of HS-3915? It's the code used by the UN data on global waste trade to indicate the total volume of plastics traded globally, comprised of plastic waste, parings, and scrap.

The new International Pollutant Elimination Network (IPEN) report argues that this HS-3915 category of the UN data on global waste trade misses out on the substantial portion of plastics waste, since it excludes plastic components in other waste categories.

Discarded clothing is one example - of which 60-70% are made out of some kind of plastics - and paper bales another - which may contain 5-30% of plastics which must be removed and discarded before recycling.

As a whole, such 'hidden figures' in global waste trade data can lead to a whopping 1.8 million metric tonnes of underestimation of plastic waste, annually. Majority of these arise from the streams of waste exported from the developed countries like the US, UK, Japan, and EU countries to developing countries, paralysing their waste management infrastructure.

As the communities in SIDS and beyond focus on equipping themselves with better waste management systems, how can we match this effort by more efficiently tracking the global waste streams, holding the waste exporting countries accountable?

The scale and rapidly increasing volume of marine litter and plastic pollution is putting the health of all the world’s oceans and seas at risk. Despite current initiatives and efforts, the amount of plastics in the ocean has been estimated to be around 75-199 million tons and this projection could nearly triple to 23-37 million tons per year by 2040.

This is according to the ‘Global Assessment of Marine Litter and Plastic Pollution-From Pollution to Solution ’ conducted by the United Nations Environment Programme in 2021

To raise public awareness, SWAP produced a multi-lingual (English, French, Fijian, Samoan, Tongan, Bislama, Pidjgin) short film on how plastics and micro-plastics are entering our diets through contaminated fish, and what we may do to help address this growing problem.

All the videos are available on the SPREP YouTube channel.

The videos can also be made available in MP4 version on request at juliep@sprep.org.

To save whales we need to keep our oceans safe from plastic. More than 750 000 people have signed WWF`s petition to fight plastic pollution – the scariest “predator of the sea”.
Healthy whales serve as a critical indicator of ocean health. Whales contribute to the development of the tourism industry of whale-watching amounting to more than $2 bln. globally.
Marine litter harms marine life through ingestion and entanglement. Flexible plastic like plastic bags and plastic packaging is responsible for the lion`s share of lethal cases from debris. Plastic-based fishing nets and ropes stand behind around 10% of the ocean`s plastic pollution. Annually, 300 000 whales, dolphins, and porpoises accidentally get trapped in fishing nets and end up slowly dying through suffocation and starvation.
To save the whales for future generations, we need to keep our oceans clean. Coordinated global response to prevent plastic bags, packaging, fishing nets, and rope from entering the ocean is urgent to move from being a plastic-depended society.

Interesting food for thought - which should we prioritise, cuts in plastics production or recycling and better waste disposal?

This article reports on the differing country stances on plastics, ahead of second session of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee to develop an international legally binding instrument on plastic pollution.

While the EU and African countries call for legally binding cuts in plastics production, US, China, and Saudi Arabia placed emphasis on recycling with country-specific flexibility and discretion vouched for.

The article quotes AOSIS (Alliance of Small Island States) statement on their priority on reducing the amount of plastics ending up in the sea, as the reduction of plastics production could increase the price of plastics which SIDS communities utilise.

Interesting considerations concocted into this debate - the pollution and emissions throughout the entire life-cycle of plastics (triggering stronger calls for limiting plastics production), its ties with the fossil fuels sector (since plastics are made from oil and gas), and dependency on plastics in our everyday lives.

Marine litter is a global issue with vast quantities of plastic and other debris washing up on the shores of SIDS around the world. Take a look at this fascinating article published on Theconversation.com this month tracking the origins and flow patterns of plastic debris around the Seychelles.

The ISLANDS Programme is also getting underway in the Indian Ocean and will be working with the Seychelles, Comoros, Maldives and Mauritius to reduce the plastic burden in these countries, as well as manage a range of other toxic pollutants that are released when everyday objects, such as end-of-life vehicles, e-waste and used oil are dumped or improperly disposed of.

Why the one Pacific voice matters in global effort to end plastic pollution, as we look towards INC2 in Paris

The second session of the International Negotiating Committee (INC2) working to develop an internationally binding instrument to fight plastic pollution will be held in Paris in May.

In this opinion piece, Mr Anthony Talouli, Director of Waste Management and Pollution Control, SPREP reiterates the importance of Pacific islands voices to be heard.

In fact, SIDS in the Pacific contribute as little as 1.3 percent towards the world’s plastic pollution, yet Pacific people are disproportionately affected by its impacts, especially when it comes to the ocean.

"In this part of the world, we have an intricate and intimate relationship with the Ocean because it defines us as a Pacific people; it underpins our livelihoods. Simply put, it is the way of Pacific Island life. This is why we must care for the Ocean and protect it to ensure it provides for us and our future generations"

Thank you SPREP - Talouli!

I know plastic pollution is an almost overwhelming problem and there are serious consequences of pollution emerging everywhere. But that doesn’t mean that we as individuals cannot experience an element of fun and achievement when we actually set out to do something about it ourselves. This article, published on Pasfika.news about Coastal Clean Up Day, reminds us of this with 2000 people getting involved and cleaning up their coastal areas.
UNEP’s ISLANDS Programme is now working with SPREP in the Pacific and other partner organisations round the world to reduce plastic pollution and tackle a whole range of other toxic pollutants in Small Island Developing States.