Regional Asbestos Project

Project Summary

Th awareness of the risks of asbestos exposure are growing in the region, as the issue was first included in the PacWaste Project (2013-2017) and expanded through the implementation of PacWastePlus.  There is a significant legacy of Asbestos in the region, with many countries having imported and utilised asbestos containing building materials.  Outcomes of a regional study conducted by PacWaste developed an inventory of the distribution of asbestos-containing materials (ACMs) in thirteen Pacific Island countries, and assessing the risks posed to human health by asbestos.

Some of the findings from the study were:

The following general comments can be made about the findings:

• Large numbers of houses (by percentage) in Nauru and Niue have asbestos building materials. Most of the houses in Niue with asbestos are abandoned houses.
• The Cook Islands, Kiribati, Solomon Islands, Tonga and Tuvalu have moderate amounts of asbestos building materials in houses and in most cases cladding only.
• Several countries have none or very low quantities of asbestos in houses. Fiji and RMI probably have almost none and FSM, Palau, Samoa and Vanuatu have very little asbestos in houses.
• The countries with the largest amount of non-residential asbestos locations are Nauru, Niue, Cook Islands, Tonga and Vanuatu. Fiji has relatively few such locations.
• Banaba, which is part of Kiribati, presents a special case regarding asbestos remediation. The amount of old and damaged asbestos present in Kiribati is significant and a substantial remediation exercise is clearly needed.
• There is some level of awareness of asbestos management techniques in all countries (and certainly more in the countries where there are significant amounts of asbestos). Generally, however, there is little expertise available to perform professional asbestos removals to the standard that would be required in, for example, Europe, UK, USA, Australia and New Zealand.
• The correct equipment for properly managing asbestos remediation is not easily available in the region, except for some PPE and the simpler tools required for removal operations.

Utilising the findings from the previous project, and requests from participating countries, a regional project was developed to assist countries to effectively remediate legacy asbestos, and regulate the use, transport, and disposal of asbestos to protect human health from the harmful effects caused by exposure. Activities included targeted public awareness, development of legislation, regulations, and a regional template Code of Practice to improve management and handling.

Four participating countries (Kiribati, Nauru, PNG, and Tonga) chose asbestos management as their PacWastePlus country priority area, whilst additional abatement actions were undertaken in Niue as closure for incomplete work from the PacWaste Project. The Asbestos Regional Project was developed to efficiently support these countries by providing coordinated technical assistance, capacity building, and resource sharing.

Highlights

The key activities undertaken in the Regional Asbestos Project are outlined in the following table. Further details on the highlights are provided throughout the remainder of this chapter.

Supporting Documents

The following table provides a complete list of all documents developed during the project, including technical guidelines, training materials, reports, and communication resources. Where possible, links to the documents hosted on the SPREP website have been included to enable direct access.