Pacific Islands: An asbestos free Pacific – regional strategy and action plan

In September 2017, 21 Pacific-Island countries endorsed initiatives to ban or restrict the importation, re-use and re-sale of products and wastes containing asbestos the region, through the Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP).

Information about the extent of asbestos in the Pacific region was very limited until the European Union-funded PacWaste project undertook a Pacific regional asbestos baseline survey in 2014.

PacWaste was a €7.85 million project funded by the European Union and implemented by SPREP to improve regional hazardous waste management across the Pacific.

The survey found more than 187,000 square metres of confirmed non-residential asbestos across 11 Pacific island countries, 78% of which was classified as either high or moderate risk. The survey also found evidence of new asbestos containing building materials being imported into the region.

Since 2017, the PacWaste and subsequent PacWaste Plus projects have developed a suite of resources for member countries to assist them in managing ageing legacy asbestos materials in the built environment and to prevent new products entering into their markets.

Unfortunately the PacWaste Plus project came to an end in June 2025 but the resources are still available on the SPREP Virtual Library.

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