Islands’ vulnerability to plastic pollution
- Many islands, particularly Small Island Developing States (SIDS), tend to have vulnerable economies that depend largely on tourism and fisheries.
- Islands have to deal with plastic waste they generate themselves as well as plastic debris that washes ashore from other places.
- Inter-island waste management is particularly challenging for islands that are isolated.
Photo: Joao Sousa
Illegal landfill in Antigua and Barbuda. Photo by Joao Sousa
The project
In 2019, with support from the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation (Norad), IUCN launched the Plastic Waste Free Islands (PWFI) project, as part of its global Close the Plastic Tap Programme. PWFI is a three-year project working in six islands in the Caribbean and Pacific. Implemented in Fiji, Vanuatu and Samoa in Oceania and Antigua and Barbuda, Saint Lucia and Grenada in the Caribbean, the project seeks to promote island circular economy and to demonstrate effective, quantifiable solutions to addressing plastic leakage from Small Island Developing States (SIDS).
The project also aims to repurpose waste into commercially viable products, thereby generating job opportunities and income for local communities. Key stakeholders from governments, private sector and civil society, united in a vibrant learning and leadership network, will co-generate and demonstrate demand-responsive solutions to plastic waste incorporating policy, business operations, and citizen behaviour changes.
Evidence and lessons will be packaged into a scalable and replicable ‘blueprint’ for use beyond the initial six target islands. Key regional bodies will develop and endorse the blueprint for looking at entire value chains, from production to disposal, and also at plastic usage and wastage in different sectors (such as tourism and fisheries).
By adding value to plastic waste and deploying solutions for better waste disposal, there will be a measurable impact on waste flows from source to sea, leading to reduced plastic leakage into the environment
Outcomes
- Improved knowledge of waste generation among six target islands
- Increased policy effectiveness in reducing plastic waste generation
- Enhanced adoption of plastic leakage reduction measures by tourism, fisheries and waste management sectors, through alternate value-chain development
- Creation of new value-chains and jobs
- Supported and facilitated investment in waste management
- Development of Plastic Waste Free Island blueprint and endorsement by regional bodies.
Aiming for solutions
By understanding volumes of plastic waste, the project seeks to provide practical solutions based on local knowledge and best practices. Preliminary solutions have been identified, focusing on addressing plastic at the source whilst ensuring financial returns to the tourism, fisheries and waste management sectors.
Photo: PWFI IUCN
- Bottle-to-bottle recycling
- Reusable PET water bottles from bottling company 25x reuses
- Reusable water bottles at hotels and cruise lines
- Net-to-net recycling
- Reusable fish packaging
- Reusable food containers
- Non-food dispensing system for hotels
- Waste to product
- Circular B2B logistics
The plastic pollution crisis
Plastic is a family of polymers that is cheap, lightweight, strong, durable and very versatile, which makes it a primary/essential choice for a variety of applications. However, the same reasons that make it a great material also make it an environmental burden and a human health concern.
Up to 14 million tons of plastic waste enter the ocean every year. This has adverse impacts on the health of ocean ecosystems, the integrity of food supplies and people’s livelihoods. Plastic pollution is caused by many factors, such as unsustainable consumption patterns, non-existent or unenforced waste management legislation, inexistent or inefficient waste management systems and a lack of coordination between different sectors.
Plastic pollution is a design, production, consumption and disposal challenge that must be tackled across plastic’s entire lifecycle. It also is a worldwide issue; no landscape or seascape, not even the poles or remote islands, has escaped. To effectively address the accelerated growth in plastic waste and leakage into the environment, a systems approach is needed.
The donor
Photo: Norad
Plastic Waste Free Islands is a project funded by the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation (Norad website, Twitter), we thank them for the programme's success.
Download the Plastic Waste Free Islands factsheet.
For the Plastic Waste Free Islands Mediterranean project, see here.
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