Spotlight on work to encourage behaviour change towards waste management

31 July 2024, Funafuti Tuvalu - Whether it is dealing with disposable diapers in Vanuatu, improving waste management in Solomon Islands or changing mindsets about how to dispose e-waste at the Ensisi Valley in Papua New Guinea (PNG), the work of the Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP) to encourage behavioural change towards waste management in Pacific communities was highlighted in Funafuti Tuvalu today.

The opportunity to do this came during the one-day Pacific – European Union (EU) Waste Management Programme (PacWastePlus) Behaviour Change Showcase and workshop at the Funafuti National Conference Centre.  It was designed to highlight current waste management behaviour change projects PacWastePlus is undertaking, and to encourage similar projects in other Pacific communities.

Representatives from Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands and Vanuatu, reflected on what they found exciting about their behaviour change project, how the communities have responded and some of the key lessons that could be applied to similar contexts in other Pacific communities.

“Vanuatu has a major issue with disposable diapers, if you go into the communities, a lot of people will tell you it’s an eyesore. When people don’t put disposable diapers in the right places, the dogs pull them away and spread them all over the place so it’s a major waste management issue in the community. There are so many disposable diapers in the landfill it is also affecting the landfill,” said Ms Roselyn Bue, Senior Officer of Vanuatu’s Department of Environment. 

“So through this project, we are working with people to change their mindsets not just in dealing with disposable diapers but looking at alternatives that are more environmentally friendly. We are beginning to see a change but it will take time.”

Solomon Islands is taking a similar journey to address waste management in the Tuvaruhu community on the Mataniko River. While the Honirara City Council is responsible for waste collection, it comes with many challenge. The project aims to reduce waste disposal and dumping in the Tuvaruhu community while promoting proper sorting, recycling, upcycling, and composting to provide community members with opportunities for responsible waste disposal and value creation.

“This is really important for our country, especially in improving waste management. One of the challenges in the Solomon Islands is people’s attitude towards waste, so this project is timely to work with local communities within the Honiara boundaries, the outskirts of the Honiara town,” said Mr Michael Suinao, Senior Environment Officer.

“Since the pilot project started, we are seeing that people especially in the outskirt communities are showing interest in what we are trying to do. Dealing with waste in households is quite important and one of the things we have noticed is that there seems to be a shift in attitude towards better management of wastes at home.”

Ms Patricia Torea of PNG agrees, noting that changing mindsets and attitudes towards e-waste is going to take some time to achieve the best results. The project at the Ensisi Valley in PNG engages the community to properly manage and dispose of electronic waste. It aims to decrease the disposal and dumping of e-waste, as well as reduce the amount of unused e-waste in homes and the community. It also looks at activities that will enable community members to repurpose unused products into valuable items, offering them opportunities for responsible disposal of e-waste and creating value within the community. 

The project utilises workshops and training sessions to empower community members to repurpose electronic devices, turning them into new and useful products and improve services provided by NCDC for e-waste collection within the community.

“Our goal is to get people to change their attitudes and thinking when it comes to e-waste,” said Ms Torea. “We are starting to see that happen, people are starting to hesitate in terms of what to do when they come across e-waste, I think before they did not think twice when disposing e-waste with all other wastes. Since we started this project, people are now starting to think more and more about how they will deal with this waste stream within their households and within the community.”

Through the showcasing of best practice examples from the Pacific region, participants gained a deep understanding of when and how behaviour change work can create impact at a community level and at scale.  The workshop focussed on the fundamental principles of identifying opportunities for behavioural design projects, and requirements for successful implementation of behavioural interventions.

Mr Bradley Nolan, Programme Manager, PacWaste Plus said the opportunity to highlight the work PacWastePlus is doing in the communities and explore how to expand behaviour change projects to other Pacific countries is a key goal for the one-day gathering.

“Improper waste management in the Pacific Islands results in heightened disease exposure, ecosystem damage, and reduced tourism income, among other impacts,” he said.

“We are really keen to explore how our member countries can use behavioural change in their work to effect real change to address the environmental challenges facing countries.  Why shouldn’t environmental manager utilise the same tools as multinationals to influence behaviour, especially when we can use it to protect the environment and lives of the communities we serve, as opposed to just making money.”

The European Union (EU) Waste Management Programme (PacWastePlus) Behaviour Change Showcase and Workshop, facilitated by Mr Rohan Doherty and Ms Jennifer McBride of ThinkPlace, precedes PacWastePlus’s Steering Committee Meeting on Friday, and the 4th Clean Pacific Roundtable also scheduled to be held in Funafuti next week.

ABOUT PACWASTEPLUS
The Pacific-EU Waste Management Programme (PacWastePlus) is a 72-month project funded by the European Union and implemented by Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP) and will address both the cost effective and sustainable management of waste and pollution as well as broader impacts including human health and wellbeing, climate change, disaster management, biodiversity conservation and resource recovery. Priority waste streams include hazardous wastes (specifically asbestos, E-waste and healthcare waste), solid wastes (specifically recyclables, organic waste, disaster waste and bulky waste) and related aspects of wastewater.