Vanuatu, like many of its Pacific island neighbours, is undergoing a period of rapid social and economic development. This development leads to an increasingly affluent society, which also leads to increase in waste generation. If left unchecked, Vanuatu will not be able to keep up with waste generation and disposal, and any positive changes that have been made so far, will be overshadowed by the ill-effects of poor waste management.
The purpose of this five year National Waste Management, Pollution Control Strategy and Implementation Plan 2016-2020 is to minimize the generation of waste and waste going to landfill, while maximizing the recovery of resources and improving the management of residual waste using environmentally sound techniques.
In this national document, the strategy covers all sources of solid wastes (residential, commercial, institutional, industrial, disaster waste, medical waste, e-waste and scrap metal, and quarantine wastes), hazardous wastes (such as usedoil) and liquid wastes (mainly pollutants discharge to water sources – treated waste water discharges) and gaseous wastes (mainly emissions from vehicles and other air pollution sources of emission).