Summary
Pacific Island Countries are increasingly faced with the challenge of stockpiles of low-value recyclable materials. These items are imported or manufactured in the region as beverages and household consumer products, but there are limited viable options for recycling the end-of-life packaging either in-country or through export to recycling markets. Common challenges for recycling across the region include high transportation costs due to geographic dispersion within and between countries, a lack of backloading or reverse logistics agreements, and difficulties in securing and maintaining markets for post-consumer materials.
The items including PET, aluminium, and glass often get disposed in overflowing landfills or unlined dumps, making up an estimated 20% of waste dispose, or discarded to the environment through illegal dumping, burning, or litter, posing a potential threat to human health and the environment.
Sustainable financing systems are viewed by country focal points as a key opportunity to achieve long-term improvement in management of household recyclable materials. At the commencement of PacWastePlus, five countries had a scheme in operation, and there was a high interest from other countries to consider a similar system.
The Regional Recyclables (Sustainable Financing) project was developed to provide resources and raise capacity of country focal points to enable informed evidence-based decisions when designing and implementing a scheme tailored to their specific national contexts.
Ten PacWastePlus participating countries have utilised the PacWastePlus KRA2 legislative support opportunity to undertake feasibility studies to determine how they could either introduce or expand systems. Of the 10 countries completing feasibility studies, five (shown in bold) have chosen Sustainable Financing as their PacWastePlus country project:
- Cook Islands
- Kiribati
- Nauru
- Niue
- PNG
- RMI
- Samoa
- Solomon Islands
- Tonga
- Vanuatu
Additionally, Tuvalu has an existing sustainable financing Schemes in place but have selected PacWastePlus country project support to expand its geographical scope of the scheme. Fiji, FSM (Chuuk), and Palau also requested PacWastePlus technical support to assist in the design or expansion of their sustainable financing scheme, without utilising project investment under KRA 2 and 3.
As a result of interest from nearly all member countries to implement a scheme, the Sustainable Financing Regional Project was developed to efficiently support them through coordinated technical assistance. The project focused on a 21-step pathway for the design and implementation of a successful sustainable financing scheme, along with capacity building and resource sharing.
Highlights
The aim for the Regional Recyclables (Sustainable Financing) Project is to provide resources and raise capacity of country focal points to enable informed evidence-based decisions to design and implement a successful scheme.
The key activities undertaken in the project are outlined following. Further detail on the highlights is provided throughout the remainder of this chapter.
| Issue | Description |
|---|---|
One new Sustainable Finance scheme approved and 6 more advancing though political/ legislative approvals and expected within next 12 months
| One new sustainable financing waste system approved though PacWastePlus support (the Cook Islands - Solid and Hazardous Waste Act 2025), and 4 more schemes (+2 expanded to collect new waste streams) in various stages of legislative progress and expected to pass in next 12 months:
Additionally, support given for scheme feasibility and scheme design for 4 more schemes, have information to progress when political will obtained:
|
| Capacity enhanced for pacific for Pacific Islands Decision makers to design and implement a sustainable finance scheme | Decision makers have the resources to design and implement an effective Sustainable Finance Scheme, including:
These resources assist countries to design their Sustainable Finance Scheme specific to their context. Workbooks contain practical resources, information, case study comparisons, and data collection templates to guide focal points to complete each step on the 21-step pathway. |
10 Feasibility Studies Complete | Ten feasibility studies completed to assist countries to design and implement a sustainable financing systems suitable for their context. Each study produced a set of key output documents designed to guide national decision- including a Situation Review and Options Analysis to provide a comprehensive overview of the current recycling landscape in each country, identifying challenges and summarizing potential options for introducing a sustainable financing mechanism, a Legislative Guidance document to provide recommendations for how a system could be integrated within existing legal frameworks, and an Implementation Plan outlined a practical roadmap for the design and rollout of a sustainable financing system. |
| Assisted Working Group Discussions | Support was provided to Sustainable Financing Working Groups in ten countries to facilitate discussions on developing schemes. Support included sharing findings from feasibility studies, offering technical advice and case study comparisons from other Pacific countries, guiding the evaluation of options for financial administration, and helping align proposed schemes with national policies and legislative frameworks. |
| Sustainable Financing Study Tour / Peer-to-Peer Learning Event to Palau | Sustainable Financing Study Tour / Peer-to-Peer Learning Events provided 23 representatives to visit Australia and 10 representatives to visit Palau to gain a comprehensive "hands-on" understanding of the Sustainable Financing Systems in operation and enable findings and learnings to be applied in their countries. |
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.
Document | Link |
Moana Taka Partnership: A guide for Pacific Island Countries and Territories | |
Moana Taka Partnership Animation | https://library.sprep.org/content/moana-taka-partnership-animation |
Waste Technology Management Options: Plastic Material | https://library.sprep.org/content/plastic-waste-waste-technology-management-options |
Assessment of Small-Scale Technology Suitable for Waste Management in the Pacific and Timor-Leste | |
Recycling Market: Research Report | https://library.sprep.org/content/recycling-market-research-report |
Recycling Market: Summary Booklet | https://library.sprep.org/content/recycling-market-summary-booklet |
Introduction to a Pacific Circular Economy | https://library.sprep.org/content/introduction-pacific-circualr-economy |
Circular Economy in the Pacific | https://library.sprep.org/content/circular-economy-animation |