ncdc

Community & Social Services

Waste Management

MANAGEMENT of the City’s waste took on a more serious turn about 2013/2014 after structural changes were done within the organisation strengthening the working arm, the Waste Management Division.

Since then, the National Capital District Commission has seen to an improved level of waste management services, especially in the areas of waste collection, the upgrading of the City’s only land fill at Baruni Dump as well as Waste Management planning.

The four programs targeted are: Waste Collection & Transportation, Intermediate Treatment, Waste Disposal, and Education & Awareness.

Waste Collection: On average, NCDC spends up to K13 million a year on waste collection alone. Waste collection services are done for Domestic Households, Business Houses, Health Care facilities (medical waste), Settlements, Markets, Schools, Offices, and Motu-Koita Villages. Most of the waste collection services have been outsourced to some 30 waste collection operators who do this on a scheduled roster with NCDC managing their contracts.

Intermediate Treatment: Intermediate treatment of Waste to assist cut down on waste volume has been lacking for Port Moresby ever since the establishment of the City Council. However, with the new changes, the NCDC has been working hard by planning for three major Intermediate Treatment facilities with the first one – a Materials Recovery Facility - scheduled for completion and operation in 2018. This particular facility will be the sorting station for the different types of waste and the inclusion of a composting area. A Materials Recovery Facility is important in that it is the first solid step by the City authority/government in processing Waste in achieving its ‘Reduce, Reuse, Recycle’ Program, a trend that is now world-wide in environmental control, safeguard and conservation.

Waste Disposal: Baruni Land Fill is the only City Dump after 6 Mile reached its full capacity and had to be closed and levelled off about 2012. A more concerted effort then went into the management of Baruni, making it more controlled to receive all types of waste. These waste are now processed, spread, compacted and covered. The Commission is still continuing to make more improvements and by the end of 2017, aims to complete a Weigh Bridge that should improve Waste data collection as well as revenue-generation for the Commission. The project has received the technical and financial backing of the Japanese Government through its aid agency, Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA).

 

Education & Awareness: The biggest challenge facing NCDC in managing Port Moresby’s waste has been attributed to ‘Attitude and Behaviour’. Papua New Guineans living in Port Moresby do not seem to care where or how they dispose of their rubbish, making it extremely hard on NCDC to continually keep and manage a clean city. As a beginning to combating this big problem, young school-aged Papua New Guineans are being targeted in the Commission’s ‘3RRR Heart’ Program to sensitize them to the idea of a cleaner city environment through personal involvement of practising the ‘Reduce, Reuse, Recycle’ concept. Twenty-two (22) NCD schools are now involved in learning good waste practices and it is hoped this should impact on behavioural changes in the long run. Another sub-division of this Education & Awareness program has been to involve settlements in sorting their waste and putting them out on collection days, although a great deal of work remains to be done for settlements in this area.

NCD Waste Management Plan 2016 - 2025:

On the general front, NCDC is embarking on a major Education & Awareness Strategy that it hopes will prepare Port Moresby for the new initiatives in Waste Management that it has begun in line with its Waste Management Plan 2016 – 2025, recently launched.              

 Click on images to read more about our City's Waste Management Plans and Policies