Moana Taka Partnership
The Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP) is an intergovernmental organisation whose mandate is to provide assistance to protect and improve the environment in the Pacific region. SPREP has identified a material problem in the Pacific Island Countries and Territories (PICT) that have excess recyclable domestic, commercial and industrial waste; much of it hazardous. Waste streams include, but are not limited to, plastic, aluminium cans, Asbestos-containing Material, Ozone Depleting Substances and waste oil.
This problem is compounded by or inadequate waste facilities to treat it locally, and financial inability to ship the small parcels of waste to the few centres in which such waste can be responsibly treated and recycled. The amount of waste increases every year, and thus poses an increasingly serious negative environmental impact.
CNCo and SPREP formed the Moana Taka Partnership wherein CNCo provides both the containers and ocean freight carriage on a Free of Charge basis. This enables private sector companies to move recyclable waste where it is accumulating, out of the PICTs, to countries with competent and sustainable recycling plants.
In 2019, we shipped out around 616.3 tonnes of low-value recyclable waste which otherwise would have ended up in landfills. The breakdown of waste streams included: 180.20 tonnes of plastic / 235.90 tonnes of cardboard / 100.58 tonnes of paper / 60.00 tonnes of scrap metal / 39.62 tonnes of glass and 48.00 tonnes of legacy waste oil.
Moana Taka Partnership aims to address Sustainable Development Goals 12 (Responsible Consumption and Production), 14 (Life Below Water) and 15 (Life on Land) as well as the following CNCoTHRIVE areas:
Click here to watch the video about this partnership.
Above: Simon Bennett, GM SD, CNCo; Sefanaia Nawadra, UN Environment Pacific Office, Apia, Samoa; Anthony Talouli, SPREP
