No national waste management policy in PNG

 PAPUA New Guinea has no national waste management policy to effectively manage waste in urban areas, an expert says.

NCDC waste management division manager Joshua Sam said the Environment Act 2000 only catered for the extractive industries such as mining and petroleum.

“I had a good look at the environment laws and it only focuses on the extractive industries,” said Sam, who holds a master’s degree in environmental science.

“The laws are very thin on urban environment management. And in our quest we do not pay the attention to the waste management needed today.

“Thus, the trick is that the cost in managing the waste later by our children will be high.”

Sam said a policy on waste management was needed to deal with waste management now so we did not give the burden to our future generations.

He said it was expensive to manage the waste with the NCDC budget of K13 million for waste management this year.

“Waste is a function of daily lives. Wherever there are human beings, there are wastes,” he said.

Sam said the influx of the people into the urban areas created more waste.

“When there are more people in the urban areas, there will be more wastes,” he said.