News - Aug 9, 2023 Pacific Island Countries Attend Peer to Peer Learning Event on Sustainable Financing

Representatives from 10 Pacific Island countries are attending a weeklong Peer- To- Peer Learning event in Palau on sustainable financing for waste management. This Peer-to-Peer Learning is designed for the PacWaste Plus programme participating countries to learn by example from the government of Palau on the design, implementation, monitoring, and expansion of sustainable financing systems to manage recyclables.

The one-week capacity-building exchange will be based on the 21-Step Pathway on the Implementation of a Waste Management Sustainable Financing programme, adopted at the 2021 SPREP Meeting.

Sustainable Finance for Waste Management systems are legislative instruments designed to create a way to sustainably finance waste management and recycling.   In the Pacific, Sustainable Financing systems are called Advanced Recovery Fee & Deposit, Container Deposit, Beverage Deposit, Advanced Disposal Fee, or a Waste Levy.

These systems are used successfully around the world to encourage the recovery of end-of-life products and to ensure governments have access to enough funds to divert recoverable items from landfill and into reuse or recycling.

In opening the Peer-to-Peer learning, the Palau Minister for Public Infrastructure and Industries, Honorable Charles Obichang encouraged participants to be innovative and keep searching to identify solutions to manage waste and economies now, so as to provide the best possible outcome for future generations.

The Honorable Minister applauded the efforts of the Palau Solid Waste Management Division in the operation of the Container Deposit Scheme (CDS) that has seen the self-funding of waste management in the country removing the dependence on international donors for much of the activities of the Division.

The first day of the Peer-To-Peer Learning included site visits to the landfill at Aimeliik State, the tyre shredding process at M-dock, and the Container Deposit Redemption Center in Koror State.

The Pacific Countries participating in the Peer-To-Peer Learning are the Cook Islands, Federated State of Micronesia, Kiribati, Nauru, Niue, Palau, Republic of Marshall Islands, Solomon Island, Tonga, Tuvalu, and Vanuatu.