Home > News > Detail

International Waters Project

Working to Improve Waste Management in the Marshall Islands

6/24/2005

The Marshall Islands International Waters Project (IWP) is working with the Jenrok Village and Na Weto/Mieco communities to try and help find practical ways to improve the management of waste throughout the rest of Majuro.

The IWP is one of 14 International Waters Projects from around the Pacific Islands region working with pilot communities and national governments to find practical solutions to urgent environmental issues such as waste management.

In the Marshall Islands the IWP has been working to collect baseline information about the problem at the community level so the Government will be in a better position to make decisions about how to improve management of waste throughout the rest of Majuro.

“If we want to improve the management of waste we need to work with communities to really understand the root cause of the problem and identify possible low-cost solutions that could help improve waste management throughout the rest of Majuro,” says Lowell Alik-IWP Project Manager.

In December 2004 Cabinet recognized the urgent need to coordinate solid waste management issues and approved the formation of the Solid Waste Task Force. The core purpose of the Task Force is to provide Cabinet with recommendations on how to improve the solid waste problem particularly on Majuro.

The IWP has already carried out two major surveys to look at how the poor management of waste is impacting on Jenrok. “From the baseline work that we’ve done it’s clear that the current waste management system is posing a threat to human health, the environment, and even the economy – through the loss of economic opportunities that could be generated from tourism or even from recycling and composting,” says Alik.

Jenrok village is known for its over crowded living conditions, rampant poverty and poor access to basic needs such as clean water, but today one traditional leader with the assistance of the International Waters Program is working hard to change all that.

Anwel Biranej, the alab (clan head) of Jenrok Weto of Jenrok Village, has returned to live in the community and is now doing everything he can to improve the situation.

“Because I didn’t live here before there was no one to get the people moving,” said Biranej. “There was no leadership and people weren’t scared (to litter) but since I’ve been back people have started to take action (to clean the community).

“Jenrok was really dirty. There was no sense of community pride.”

Biranej lives in the heart of Jenrok. Like others, his home is crammed closely together into the other homes on Jenrok weto (parcel of land).

“When I was a young boy there were only three houses in Jenrok and lots of trees,” he said. “Now there are too many homes crammed together.”

Recognizing the need to address the over crowding and the solid waste problems that have started to consume the community, Biranej and other traditional leaders of Jenrok village including Leroij Takbar Ishiguro replied to the call by IWP to pilot a community waste reduction site at Jenrok.
“Trash is a modern problem,” said Ishiguro. “Traditionally everything was biodegradable. We didn’t need to separate trash, it wasn’t a problem. But now we have imported stuff.

“I want my community to move forward,” said Ishiguro. “I understand that trash can cause sickness and if people are too sick to go to school or go to work then they can’t better themselves.”

Ishiguro has been involved in many EPA workshops targeted at raising awareness about recycling and reducing our solid waste.

“They are always telling us to separate our trash and recycle,” said Ishiguro “We can separate our trash but it will all just end up at the dump. What’s the point?

“We need action. We know what we need to do but we need the tools to help us, such as separate bins for recyclables, incinerators and a collection point for non-biodegradable or toxic trash to ship back to the US to recycle or to dispose of properly,” she said.


“The community has developed the mindset to separate trash,” said Biranej, “We’ve learned this through IWP project. People are getting used to using the IWP recycling bins. Often, I see the children collecting cans and putting them in the recycle bin.”


While plans for are still in the works to develop a nation wide approach to dealing with trash, Biranej and his Jenrok community continue to carry out their weekly community clean ups and can recycling programs.

“We’re cleaning as a community now,” says Biranej.

“Even if this pilot project ends, we will still continue on with the clean up activities because it doesn’t cost us anything to clean, but the benefits are great.”

Through involvement in the IWP project activities, Biranej now sees other possible solutions to solve Jenrok’s solid waste problems such as the establishment of a community recycling center that would also work as an income generating program.

Unfortunately in Majuro there are currently no financial incentives for people to recycle, compost, or minimize the amount of garbage that they currently generate. In Kiribati the Government has now introduced a refund system for all aluminium cans, plastic PET bottles and car batteries. A 5-cent levy is placed on all bottles and cans coming into the country with 4 cents provided as a refund and 1 cent kept to help fund the operation of the system.

According to OEPPC, the IWP is now in its third phase and is looking at preparing a business plan for a proposed centralized facility at Jenrok that would address recycling and composting matters. The business plan needs to be developed to detail the capital cost required to establish the facility, a market analysis to identify the buyers of recyclable materials, and an operations plan to outline appropriate procedures for the project. It is hoped that this business plan will help to inform the Solid Waste Task Force on the national viability of recycling, composting and diverting hazardous waste from disposal to landfill.


An analysis of Jenrok’s waste was commissioned by OEPPC/IWP and conducted by Ben Chutaro end of last quarter 2004 and it found that nearly 70 per cent of the waste generated from Jenrok is either recyclable or compostable.

Alik says that if the principles of the project, such as separation of trash and recycling were adopted at the national level then only 30 percent of ‘true’ trash would be going to the dump.

He also says that with the envisioned centralized facility established and fully operational, this 70% of trash reported in the waste stream survey could be brought to this facility - this would mean the dumps wouldn’t fill up as fast as they have been but would last for several years.

Contact Name	Steve Menzies
e-mail	stevem@sprep.org
Phone	(685) 21929
Fax	(685) 20231

.