Malo e lelei from Tonga. I am a part of the Waste Authority Team and have been invited to this forum by Ms. Lola Liava’a Tonga. Looking forward to sharing ideas with you all and learning along with Lola during this training. Cheers

Kia orana, I am an economist from the Cook Islands Ministry of Finance and Economic Management. I have recently been tasked with helping develop the financial aspects of the Advanced Recovery and Disposal Fee Policy 2022.

I was invited to this Group by Claytoncy at Infrastructure Cook Islands.

Meitaki

Thank you for the opportunity given our Organisation to attend this AFRD and hosting our trip. Our organisation is to realise the waste circular economy concept and bring corporate and industries, government and individuals to contribute to the whole systems.
Currently, we have not tapped into this. Our direction now is ensure we link up with pathways and come with relevant partners and formulate strategies and plans to capture our plans.
As we have established our Waste Management and Recycling Committees, we need now to do study tours and fact finding attachments to really give us a understanding on the systems that we can adopt to realise this. In so doing, we also establishing our networking spheres and partners where we can be able utilise.
Thank you

Talofa lava,
I am excited to participate in the PacWastePlus and GEF ISLANDS Study Tour to learn more about these systems. Here in Samoa we are currently planning to implement the following;
*Establish an effective recycling system that is acceptable to our community and up to standards;
*Establish a user pay system for household by selling trash bags (unique colour) that our trash collector will only accept;
*Separate the Waste management Unit from the Environment Division and recruit more personnel.
*Structure our fees and charges so that business and big polluters pay more.

As a person working in the Samoa Ministry of Finance; The things I am most looking forward to learn are:
*How fees and charges are structured and also ensure that imposing of fees wouldn't have an negative effect (eg. people avoid using landfill and dumping rubbish in conversation areas)
*Challenges faced by Australia in early stages of planning & Implementation
*Cost of running plants and equipment required.

Looking forward to learn from all the experiences of our Pacific Island countries who will participate.

Faafetai and God bless!

Mila Posini

We are excited to share a report for the Sustainable Financing for Waste Management webinar, organised by PacWastePlus and ISLANDS, held on Thursday July 28.

Thank you to all presenters for their valuable time and knowledge sharing and to the many participants that were able to join us for this informative webinar!

And if you were not able to join us you may find this report and the recording of the webinar of value. We have embedded video links into the report and have placed the youtube link on this post for easier access.

The report also contains download links to presentations made during the webinar for your reference. Should you have further comments or questions on topics and discussions from this webinar please drop in your questions in the comments section and our team will be happy to engage with you on that.

Hello everyone!

Greetings from beautiful Cape Town! While I am South African, I spent many years working in Papua New Guinea and my heart definitely belongs to the islands, so I’m very happy to be part of this group and to meet you all.

To introduce myself, I am a photographer, writer and storyteller and I will be joining you on this study tour to document not only the different activities we will experience, but also to listen to and tell your stories - who you are, what you’re doing and why this is important. I believe that storytelling is incredibly powerful, helping us to connect to both the issues and the people involved, and creating the necessary empathy to truly create change. It is a great privilege for me to be documenting your stories and I look forward to hearing them soon.

I’ve been telling stories about the sustainability movement for over a decade, and some of you may be familiar with my work through the Earth Negotiations Bulletin (ENB) or the UNFCCC. I’ve been covering a wide range of topics, but chemicals management is close to my heart and I think it’s important to communicate these matters more effectively to inspire broad-scale change. That’s what I try to do with my stories, so you can check out my coverage of Minamata on this platform, or follow me on Instagram to see more stories from other processes.

So looking forward to being with you all soon and until then, have a story worthy day!

Kia Orana all,
I am Claytoncy Taurarii from Cook Islands, I am excited to participate in the PacWastePlus and GEF ISLANDS Study Tour to learn more about these systems. Here in Cook Islands we are currently planning to implement the following:
-ARDF Policy to be passed in Cabinet
-Solid and Hazardous Waste Bill to be tabled into Parliament
-TOR-Customs personnel to focus on ARDF Scheme
-TOR Communications personnel to focus on ARDF Scheme
The things I am most looking forward to learn are:
-What were the challenging issues during the planning stage, and how were these issues addressed (support from government and private sector)
-What were the pros and cons of sustainable financing-and what lessons can be taught to small islands who are in the development stage (what should be considered, how does the scheme work)
-What assistance can be provided to pacific islands who are struggling with the exportation of ARDF Products from the Cook Islands to overseas market.

I do look forward to meeting all the participants during this study tour, and how I can utilize the knowledge gained to implement our ARDF scheme in the Cook Islands.

Meitaki Maata :)

Hi Everyone greetings from Nauru,

I am excited to participate in the PacWastePlus and GEF ISLANDS Study Tour to learn more about these systems. Here in Nauru we are currently exploring with the intention to establish a recycling system that is acceptable to our community and also meets the standards of recyclers and not forgetting an important part which is to adopt a system that could be sustainably financed.

The things I am most looking forward to learn are what mechanisms such as obligations, regulations, partnerships, policies etc are being utilized to gain leverage with key stakeholders in supporting a recycling/recovery system and users to make use of such a system.

Look forward to learning from this exchange which it is hope aspects can be localized and applied in my own country.

Tubwa, Bryan

Hi everyone, greetings from Solomon Islands.
Iam excited to participate in the PacwastePlus and GEF ISLANDS Study Tour to learn more about these systems. Here in SI we do not have any formal sustainable financing system in place. We are currently exploring with the intention to establish a system that fits into our national context. We have completed a ARDF Feasibility Study under the PacwastePlus Project support and working towards introducing the system in the country.
I look forward to learn from the experiences from those who have introduced and implemented sustianable financing systems in their country and to understand the challenges from the planning stage, design and implementation of the system as well as ways to address these challenges.

Looking forward to the tour.

Tagio tumas

Alii everyone, I am Kliu from Palau. I am excited to participate in the PacWastePlus and GEF ISLANDS Study Tour to learn more about these systems. Here in Palau, we are looking at developing a national permitting and registration system for chemicals and hazardous substances. We are also in the final planning stages for a desk audit of all chemicals and hazardous wastes that are currently on island.

The things I am most looking forward to learn are how have similar communities/states to Palau been able to establish their own national permitting and registration systems for chemicals and hazardous materials. Taking into consideration that we are a nation of roughly 20,000 people, with a desire to participate in global activities but also keep environmental protection in balance, with limited resources, limited technical expertise, little to no financing for new efforts of change and more importantly remote to most access. What kind of challenges or pushback did you receive from your communities, from your local government, from the national government? How can we also expand the current CDS scheme so that more people can have a wider range of recyclables? What can we use (method) to take inventory of needed actions, movers-shakers and policies/legislation to help assist in identifying gaps in the system(s) and how to move forward? With current schemes in place how are taxes and fees allocated? What kinds of discussions or tools could we access to assist in developing fair and equitable distribution of these? To include a monitoring and evaluation tool for sustainability and applicability of current and introduction of new chemicals and hazardous materials.