BY JOHN HOUANIHAU

The Ministry of Environment Climate Change Disaster Management and Meteorology (MECDM) is working towards a product stewardship legislation and a container deposits system for the Solomon Islands.

Wendy Beti of the Conservation Division said that the scheme aims to provide incentives for responsible waste disposal practices and, at the same time, create economic opportunities through the strengthening of the recycling industry in the country.

“People can drop off identified material at identified centres and will get paid for that. A percentage fee is deducted and goes towards promoting this system to become sustainable,’’ said Beti.

She said that this would help people return the items to be disposed of at centers instead of disposing of items irresponsibly.

 She said that this program is a partnership between the public and private sectors.

“This program or activity is ongoing, and once we get more information on that, we will inform the public and stakeholders,’’ she said.

She said that other countries in the Pacific have already implemented this system.

“For example, Kiribati, Palau. For us if this comes into place, it also helps; for example, recycling companies here where involved recycling, will help them in terms of collecting waste materials for exporting out of the country since we don’t have a facility in the country for doing recycling of aluminium cans, etc,’’ she said.

She said that the enactment of the Product Stewardship Scheme (PSS) legislation is in line with the National Waste Management and Pollution Control Strategy 2017 – 2026.

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