A PROJECT designed to address post disaster waste management issues in Honiara was launched this week.
Dubbed J-HOPE, the project was established in light of the flood disaster that struck Honiara and Guadalcanal on April 3.
Honiara City Council, Ministry of Environment and Climate Change, Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) and involved in the project in collaboration with Port Vila Municipality of Vanuatu.
A statement issued by the project said J-HOPE stands for “J-PRISM Honiara Operations to promote Partnership and Enhancement for Managing Disaster Waste”.
“This project aims to restore the Ranadi dump site and incorporate and demonstrate appropriate practices and measures to manage the disaster waste in an economical and environmentally acceptable manner using the 3Rs (Reduce, Reuse and Recycle) concept.
“J-HOPE also brings good experiences to Solomon Island Government with the guidance of a local expert from Vanuatu, and it can promote a partnership among Pacific Island Countries (PICs) to share the expertise, experience and lessons learned,” the statement said.
J-HOPE has three components of the activities as follows;
Joe Kelesi, landfill supervisor, HCC is taking initiative of the restoration of Ranadi Dumpsite with the assistance of Amos Mathias, which is the urgent matter in Honiara to be resolved after the flooding.
Now tremendous amount of waste and debris are coming into Ranadi dumpsite day by day and filled up the disposal site very quickly.
HCC is tackling with this big issue of Honiara to operate and manage the dumpsite in the proper manner.
Three volunteers also quickly joined in this activity to assist data collection of the incoming waste and debris for further study of the disaster waste management.
Ella Rizwold, from Environmental Health Division of HCC will be responsible for conducting the management of the disaster waste especially at the FOPA evacuation center.
Currently there is no proper manner of waste disposal and collection at the center, therefore HCC will provide wheel bins for segregation at the site, awareness to promote segregation and environmentally friendly discharge.
HCC will also encourage the evacuees through the variety of awareness events and supports in collaborate with recyclers and volunteers.
George Titiulu, Chief Health Inspector, Environment Health Division, HCC organised the “Mobile Chain Saw Team” to cut deposited trees logs and branches around the coastal area and affected communities down to manageable sizes, and pile up at the specific site for further use of firewood and others.
This activity will contribute to reduce the amount of green waste going to the dumpsite.
An officer from the Environment and Conservation Division, is coordinating the J-HOPE project.
She said that through these activities, health risk could be reduced, and the quantity of waste to handle and dispose of at a landfill can be significantly minimized, and as a result thousands of dollars would be possibly saved.
J-PRISM/JICA has accumulated experiences and knowledge related to managing disaster waste through implementing the surveys and pilot projects to clean up the disaster waste generated.
JICA conducted several remedial response pilot projects including the tsunami in Samoa, in 2009, flood in Fiji and Samoa in 2012, and cyclone in Fiji in 2013. J-HOPE activities will be reported as a series.
