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PRESENT COSTS
The Republic of the Marshall Islands Government (RMI) and the Majuro Atoll Government budget $1.2 million for solid waste management, with additional funding from outside donors, which brings it up to about $ 1.5 million. This does not include capital equipment. Private businesses, individual government offices, and households spend about $300,000 per year hauling their own waste to the dump.
"It appears from the poor state of equipment and poor service that not much of the $1.2 million budgeted for solid waste is actually spent on solid waste," states the draft.
It is difficult to determine how the money is spent as neither the RMI Government nor MALGov keep separate accounts for solid waste.
IMPACT
Poor management wastes tax money, aid funds, time and money of businesses and households. It undermines business profits and job creation. Tourists may be driven away by polluted beaches and play areas. It takes up valuable land, while at the same time, killing marine life in coastal waters. Valuable compost for gardens and metals for recycling are lost.
Health issues associated with poor waste management include dsentery, diarrhea, intestinal worms, typhoid, cholera, tuberculosis, dengue fever, respiratory diseases, bacterial infections, fungal infections, heavy metal poisoning, pcbs and other poisoning.
PRO AND CONS
Pros and cons of eleven concept design options for both solid waste collection and disposal are presented for public review and comment.
The consensus collection first-priority is to provide 3m3 bins with plastic lids to be picked-up from Rita to Laura. Assignments to an individual weto are made at a ratio of about one bin for 11 households. Households place their solid waste in the bin, which is emptied once per week by a compactor truck with automatic bin lifter. Green waste is not collected as part of the household service, but households could deliver green waste to the disposal site.
"There was universal agreement that MALGov should pay for the household service with local sales tax revenue collected partly for that purpose. Commercial customers—which would include government offices, businesses, and private households that want special service—should pay directly for the service. Commercial service should not subsidize household service," states the report.
According to an expert review and the general consensus, the optimal disposal option to handle the waste stream is a 24-Ton Day Batch Oxidation System (BOS) Incinerator with Electricity Generation. The incinerator can run on waste oil or coconut oil and can incinerate waste oil and fish. A boiler unit and steam turbine together use heat from the incinerator to generate electricity.
RECYCLING
Commercial metals recycling has grown rapidly in the RMI and an estimated 70% of aluminum stock is now collected. Scavengers comb through trash at Jable Dump and many businesses now separate aluminum cans at the source and sell them to exporters.
To increase recycling, alternatives to market-force driven collection are introduced: "Recycling Method: Special-Use Excise Tax or ‘Deposit’ to Subsidize a Collection Bounty or ‘Refund’" and "Direct Export Subsidy or Collection Bounty."
The document, part of the ADB-sponsored project, “Increasing Ownership of and Effective Demand for Improved Urban Waste Management," calls for Marshall Islands' stakeholders to work together to improve governance in the management of solid waste.
Although progress has been made on the issue, even technology fixes will not succeed unless they are chosen carefully and then managed well, states the draft.
- Excerpted and Compiled by Aenet Rowa, Yokwe Online, February 4, 2007
DOWNLOAD ENTIRE PDF DOCUMENT (including charts, graphs, photos), provided by Ben Chutaro:
"WHAT DO YOU THINK? Draft for Public Review and Comments" [5]