Pacific Small Island Developing States produce only a small share of the world’s plastics but bear some of the most severe impacts. Their markets rely heavily on imported goods and packaging, while geographic isolation, scarce land, limited waste-management capacity and high transport costs make plastics exceptionally difficult to manage once they arrive.
Yet Pacific islands have little influence over how imported products are designed, which chemicals they contain, or how easily they can be reused, recycled or safely disposed of.
Our project is grounded in a simple principle: islands should not be expected to solve at the waste stage a plastics problem largely created elsewhere.
Together with partners in Fiji, Palau and the Cook Islands, we are developing and demonstrating a different approach—one that addresses plastic pollution before it becomes waste and connects local solutions with national policy and global action.
Our approach links four levels of change.
First, we strengthen the rules.
We review national laws, identify regulatory gaps and work with governments and civil society to advance restrictions on problematic and unnecessary plastics, stronger import controls, Extended Producer Responsibility, sustainable procurement and effective implementation.
Second, we turn policy into practical action.
We explore reuse, refill and take-back systems, reverse logistics and alternatives to imported single-use plastics. We design solutions around island realities rather than simply transferring them from large industrial economies.
Third, we invest in Pacific leadership.
Local organizations, communities, women, youth and Indigenous actors are partners—not merely beneficiaries. Their knowledge and experience are essential to developing solutions that integrate traditional knowledge, local innovation and effective policy approaches.
Fourth, we connect local experience with global rules.
A transboundary problem cannot be solved by national action alone. Plastics, chemicals, products, and waste move through global value chains and across oceans. The project therefore helps Pacific Island States bring evidence and lessons from national implementation to negotiations for a Global Plastics Treaty.
Together, these efforts create a powerful feedback loop:
Stronger national policies → locally tailored solutions → implementation evidence → better global rules.
The project therefore reaches far beyond reducing plastic waste in three countries.
It raises a broader question:
What would the global plastics system look like if it reflected the realities of countries that import plastics but have little influence over product design, chemical content or end-of-life management?
Fiji, Palau and the Cook Islands can help demonstrate this transition—showing how prevention, reuse, safer products, producer responsibility, local knowledge and international regulation can work together.
The ambition is not merely cleaner islands.
It is to help drive a transition toward a system in which fewer problematic plastics reach islands in the first place, responsibility moves upstream, local economies become more resilient, and Pacific countries have a stronger voice in shaping global plastics rules.
Pacific Small Island Developing States are therefore not peripheral to the global plastics debate.
They can become testing grounds and leaders for solutions the world needs.
More information is available on the project website: https://www.hej-support.org/psids-plastic/
