An assessment of policy and investment options for reducing leakage of plastics into the marine environment in the Pacific Island Countries.
At the World Banks Samoa Office, MNRE and Samoa Recycling and Waste Management Association conducted an inception workshop on options to reduce leakage of plastic into the marine environment.
Held last week, the project seeks to assess a suite of interventions that can prevent the leakage of single use plastics (SUPs) into the marine environment of the PICs.
The process will involve assessing the scale of potential SUP leakage and an evaluation of policy and investment options to address this issue.
From a comprehensive list of commonly adopted SUP interventions, a short list of interventions will be prioritized using a simple decision tree based on pre-assessment and consultations, for each country and costs and benefits will be analyzed in greater detail through a case study.
Samoa hosts the first project inception workshop out of four other eligible countries namely Vanuatu, Tonga, Kiribati and Fiji. Samoa will benefit greatly from this project in ascertaining viable alternatives for SUPs commonly used and considered problematic when they become wastes.
A team from World Bank and OCA Global with a consortium including Grid Arendal, APWC and Sustainable Seas will provide technical assistance to Samoa in recommending policy and investment options to address potential SUP leakage. Evaluation of the preferred option, selected in consultations, will be done through evidence-based assessment of the scale of the problem.
