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The implementation of asbestos Management Policy and regulation, including a ban on the important of asbestos will provide significant in roads to the eventual elimination of asbestos related disease.

Items are imported into the Cook Islands is growing numbers, but there are currently limited viable options for their end-of-life management and/or export. As such, most items imported are disposed of at landfills or stockpiled on vacant land. The priority for the Cook Islands is to reduce waste to landfill, and its infrastructure Cook Islands seeks to focus their PacWastePlus investment to support the implementation of an effective Sustainable Financing system (known as the Advance Recovery Deposit and Fee) to enable long-term, self financing collection and recovery to recyclable items.

This assessment has been prepared by the Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme’s (SPREP) EU-funded PacWastePlus programme (PacWaste Plus or ‘Programme’), drawing upon reporting developed by the University of Melbourne (UoM) on behalf of PacWastePlus for that programme’s Waste Legislative Review project. The UoM team reviewed legislation relevant to waste management in 14 Pacific region countries and Timor-Leste. Separate assessments are provided for each of the PacWastePlus participating countries.

The Cook Islands is located in the Polynesia region of the South Pacific. It comprises of 13 inhabited islands and atolls that cover a land area of 237 square kilometer, its exclusive economic zone covers an oceanic area of approximately 1,340,00 square kilometer. The capital of Cook Islands is Avarua, located on the largest island Rarotonga.

Waste governace in the Cook Islands is managed under general environmental and public health legislation, although the adoption of specific waste management legislation has been strongly recommended by past reviews. There are ongoing consultations about a solid and hazardous waste bill, discussed further under Pipeline activities.

This report provides a summary of the analytical results for a range of food and other household items that were collected in October 2010 as part of the background information gathering phase of the Cook Islands POPs Project. The samples were analysed for a wide range of possible pesticide contaminants, including the POPs pesticides. The samples were also tested for polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs)

The importance of coastal and marine environments to every aspect of the lives of Pacific Islanders cannot be overstated. Pacific Island Countries (PICs) maintain resource rights and management responsibilities for over 30million square kilometres of ocean, equivalent to the total land area of Canada, China and the USA. The total population of coastal pacific islanders is only 2.6 million. There are 11 square kilometres of ocean for each Pacific Islander. Jurisdictionally, the ocean is 200 times more significant to the average Pacific Islander than it is to the average global citizen.  

Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDC)