News - Jun 4, 2025 Palau incinerator for Palau

A new controlled air incinerator has been installed in the Aimeliik Landfill thanks to the support of the Aimeliik state government, the Ministry of Public Infrastructure (MPIIC) and SPREP’s PacWastePlus programme funded by the European Union.

The incinerator is designed for batch feed type loading with a burning cycle of 1.5- 2 hours duration and a final cooling cycle of 2 – 4 hours.

Waste can be loaded throughout the day and retained within the incinerator until the completion of the burn cycle and removed prior the commencement of burning the following day.

Used in this manner, the incinerator can be operated continuously for a period of 8 hours per day. In order to control emissions of smoke and odour from the combustion process the incinerator is equipped with a secondary combustion chamber designed to provide a second “burning” of the gasses escaping from the initial burn. This results in a clean, smokeless, and odorless burn.

Training on identification and maintenance of all incineration plant components and operation of the incineration plant in an effective and environmentally sound manner was provided as well.

Several training sessions were held to ensure all incinerator operators understood how to operate the incinerator efficiently.  Nine local waste management personnel, including from the MHHS (incinerator techs) MHHS Incinerator (Hazardous Waste) Environmental Quality Protection Board (EQPB), Division of Environmental Health(DEH), MHHS,  were trained in the use of the incinerator.

Palau’s Ministry of Health & Human Services acknowledge the importance of the new tool  noting that after more than 10 years without the capacity to incinerate hazardous waste, the Ministry is now finally able to dispose of hazardous healthcare wastes by way of incineration.