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This report provides a snapshot of waste audit generation and composition across the business and household waste streams for six locations within PNG. Household waste collections are the responsibility of local governments. In some circumstances the local government engages private sector contractors to provide these services, which in general are limited to the urban areas only. Recycling in the PNG in conducted by the private sector and is limited to scrap-steel e-wastes, oil, vehicle batteries and PET plastic (although the latter may have slowed due to market limitations). The disposal sites owned by the local government may be operated in accordance with local by-laws but may not hold an environmental permit issued by the national regulator, CEPA.

The Papua New Guinea government has identified the need for policies and strategies to rectify this situation and to implement its commitments under relevant MEAs effectively. An audit conducted by the Office of the Auditor-General of Papua New Guinea in 2010 included a specific recommendation that the Department of Environment and Conservation consider formulating consolidated solid waste management legislation that deals with the management of solid waste in Papua New Guinea. No such legislation has yet been enacted.

Papua New Guinea is located in the Melanesia region of the South Pacific, it is the world's third largest island country covering 462,840 square kilometer encompassing 22 provinces over the eastern half of New Guinea and over 600 offshore islands.

Total Waste Management exists to create a better reality for Papua New Guinea, our environment, people and culture.