Policy on waste needed

By SAMUEL BARIASI
THE Government needs to have a proper waste policy in place to address challenges with waste management in the country, University of PNG vice-chancellor Prof Frank Griffin says.
He said there were many implementation plans over the years but no actual implementation from those plans was made.
“Waste management is not only our city or town council authorities’ responsibility, it is everybody’s business,” he said.
Prof Griffin said there was no policy in place to initiate an effective waste management system in the country.
“We are struggling with waste management because there is no policy or legislation in place; if you do not have policy and legislations, you would not have the resources (funding).”
He said both the national and provincial governments did not have a strategy to deal with waste.
Prof Griffin also highlighted that Papua New Guineans needed to change their mentality of expecting to be paid to clean up rubbish in their communities.
He gave examples of communities in and around Port Moresby where people tended to be ignorant about the rubbish around them.
“It’s not only in Port Moresby, this happens almost everywhere in the country,” he said.
“People expect the Government to pay them to clean up their communities when they are supposed to do it for themselves.”
Prof Griffin suggested that policies and strategies about waste management needed to be initiated by communities, local level governments, provinces, and then by the national government.
“We need a ‘bottom-up’ approach to really inspire actual action to handle waste management,” he said.