On Friday 10th August 2018, waste audit survey was conducted by the Port Vila Municipal Council (PVMC) in collaboration with the Department of Environmental Protection and Conservation (DEPC) and J-PRISMⅡProject with the aimed of understanding the current garbage disposal situation of single use plastic bags, plastic straws and polystyrene takeaway boxes. All rubbish was carefully separated by hand and weighed.
Results revealed that 12 % of household waste is plastics and 2% is plastics prohibited by plastic ban such as single use plastic bags. Plastic ban was endorsed on 1st July 2018 but still single use plastics remain around the city, which resulted in 2% of banned plastics discovered. Hopefully we believed to get this reduce to 1% if another audit should be decided. Note that we will still remain with 1% since the exception on the use of single use plastic was given to the butcher. DEPC will continue strengthen monitoring, compliance checks and made public awareness for enforcement of the plastic ban.
Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) is currently implementing the second phase of the Japanese Technical Cooperation Project for Promotion of Regional Initiative on Solid Waste Management (J-PRISMⅡProject). This project aims to provide technical support to improve Solid Waste Management in Vanuatu.