The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.
I’m thinking about this often quoted phrase as I’m sitting here on a coastal village in Samoa where we have just finished a clean up and have collected a mountain of plastics and waste debris found on our foreshore.
This rubbish originates from people who have either just recklessly thrown it away or waste and plastics that have washed ashore from the ocean. The waste collection I am looking at forms a tiny fraction of the global plastic pollution crisis threatening economies and livelihoods.
Statistics tell us that every day, the equivalent of 2,000 garbage trucks full of plastic are dumped into the world's oceans, rivers, and lakes. Every year 19-23 million tonnes of plastic waste leaks into aquatic ecosystems, polluting lakes, rivers and seas. The statistics are so frightening that French President, His Excellency Emmanuel Macron, not long ago called plastic pollution a “ticking time bomb.” Speaking about the need to act urgently, President Macron said: “If we do nothing, the generation of plastic waste will triple again by 2060. Plastic pollution is therefore a ticking time bomb as well as an already present scourge.”
Indeed, plastic pollution is not just a global problem, it is an evil we do not want. The irony is that while the Pacific contributes less than 1.3% of global plastic pollution, our ocean is inundated with the bulk of the world’s transboundary washed-away plastics, which has serious negative environmental, health, cultural and socio-economic consequences for our people.
At the Secretariat of the Pacific Environment Programme (SPREP), we know our environment is under threat not just from plastic pollution, but also from climate change and biodiversity loss, which we often refer to as the triple planetary crisis.
To address this, we at SPREP work hand in hand with our Pacific Islands governments and communities supported by our myriad of partners. As the Director of Waste Management and Pollution Control at SPREP, we know waste management and pollution control is one of the core issues affecting the region and we continue to work with our member countries and partners towards our ultimate goal of a Cleaner Pacific.
Between 2019 and 2024, SPREP through the AFD-funded Sustainable Waste Actions in the Pacific (SWAP) Project and the Australian Government-funded Pacific Ocean Litter Project, supported 73 beach marine litter surveys and waste audits across 43 locations in Fiji, Samoa, the Solomon Islands, Tonga, Vanuatu and Wallis and Futuna. A total of 76,869 items were collected, weighing 4,492 kg. Plastics accounted for 58% of the collected waste (44,653 items). And we have helped our communities address all types of waste challenges they face through real, practical solutions. Through the European-Union funded PacWastePlus Programme we introduced composting programme in 25 villages across nine provinces in Fiji to process organic waste and generate compost to support local agricultural activities.
Many of the solution-based activities undertaken have resulted in other benefits. SPREP, through the AFD-funded SWAP, established a Scrap Metal Recovery Facility in Wallis and Futuna which includes a dedicated room for smelting aluminium cans collected through the Eco-tax. This initiative aims to create local job opportunities; and manufacture new products for sale on the local market, such as pig troughs, kitchen utensils, fishing weights, and other items upon request.
The construction and use of 39 new organics processing facilities throughout the region that divert organic waste from landfill, avoid carbon emissions, and produce either clean energy or valuable compost materials to increase resilience to climate change and assist with food security is another example.
Everything we do is undertaken strategically through the Cleaner Pacific 2025: Pacific Regional Waste and Pollution Management Strategy 2016–2025 is a comprehensive, long-term strategy outlining goals and strategic actions to address priority waste and pollution issues, with SPREP and Pacific island countries and territories being responsible for strategy delivery.
This week here in Samoa, SPREP has taken another critical step to amplify and showcase the work we are doing with our partners and our Pacific members to address waste challenges and highlight solutions through the inaugural Circularity, Innovation, Recovery, Culture, Learning, and Environment (CIRCLE) EXPO 2025.
The week-long event at the Taumeasina Island Resort will launch a biennial event held alternately with the Clean Pacific Roundtable (CPRT), ensuring there is an annual opportunity for countries, industry, civil society, and tertiary institutions; to come together, discuss and explore issues of waste and pollution management in the Pacific. The CIRCLE EXPO 2025 will also be the first opportunity for countries, Industry, Institutes, and Community Service Organisations to meet and start development of the next iteration of the Cleaner Pacific Strategy.
On that note, it is my absolute pleasure to welcome all our Member countries, partners, 62 speakers representing 17 countries and territories, 12 private industries, four tertiary Institutions, two project partners, and several student and community members to Samoa.
The inaugural CIRCLE EXPO is funded by the European Union – Pacific Waste Management Programme (PacWastePlus), a project that has seen €24.35million invested into hazardous and solid waste management and implemented through SPREP in partnership with 14 Pacific island countries and Timor-Leste.
Through this investment the region has moved forward in leaps and bounds, improving infrastructure, strengthening our legislative frameworks, engaging at the international level to effect real change in global practices, and supported localised engagement to change behaviours. The support and partnership from our development partners is instrumental for us all to make a meaningful impact on our environment, and we are excited to continue working with everyone towards a Cleaner Pacific.
Coming back to Samoa, and looking at the rubbish we’ve collected, why does this matter? How can this make a difference? The reality is that although our Pacific Islands make up 0.1% of the world’s population, we are large Ocean Island States responsible for stewarding more than 10% of the Earth’s Ocean.
This is a big responsibly and we cannot ignore the evil that is the plastic pollution crisis and related waste management issues. We have a moral responsibility to ensure a Cleaner Pacific. And let me tell you that every action counts and everyone has a role to play. The CIRCLE Expo 2025 is another one of those steps.
*This Opinion Editorial piece was authored by Anthony Talouli, the Director of Waste Management and Pollution Control (WMPC) at SPREP. The CIRCLE EXPO 2025 is held in Apia, Samoa from 26 to 30 May. It will showcase activities and outcomes from across our Pacific Islands achieved through the support of the Pacific – European Union (EU) PacWastePlus Programme, Pacific Ocean Litter Project (POLP), Sustainable Waste Actions in the Pacific (SWAP) project, GEF ISLANDS Project and JPRISM III