A partnership between the Government of Samoa, the Samoa Outrigger Canoe Association – Alo Vaa – SOCA, and the Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP) has been announced to make the IVF World Championship green and plastic-free.
SPREP, through the Australian Government-funded Pacific Ocean Litter Project, will provide AUD 36,813 funding to SOCA to make WDC 2023 single-use plastic free.
This includes building public education and awareness of plastic pollution and the single-use plastic issue in Samoa as part of a highly visible event. POLP will also provide reusable water bottles and water-filling stations under the banner of greening the games.
SOCA will place recycling cages and bins across its venues to promote good waste management practices and prevent leakage. Local businesses and vendors contracted are to comply with the event’s plastic-free objective, and only alternative take-away food and beverage containers and related products will be used.
Participating teams will also be encouraged to plant trees in order to offset carbon emissions from increased air travel to and from Samoa.
Samoa, the host of the 2019 Pacific Games, delivered the first green Pacific Games and successfully eliminated single-use plastics and polystyrene from the athletic sports venues, dining halls, and accommodations.
The IVF WDC Regatta will be held in Apia from 10-19 August 2023.
The Pacific Ocean Litter Project is funded by the Government of Australia and implemented by SPREP in collaboration with the governments and peoples of the Cook Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, Fiji, Kiribati, Nauru, Niue, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Republic of the Marshall Islands, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu, and Vanuatu.
