On the outskirts of Port Moresby, the unique stilted houses of Hanuabada are drowning in waste and rubbish.
Plastic waste is a plague to sustainable development.
With a growing reliance on imported, packaged goods, many Pacific Islands are particularly affected as they increasingly move away from a more traditional subsistence and hunter-gatherer lifestyle towards Western products.
But what real impact does plastic pollution have? And how do we address it?
Apart from looking unsightly, rubbish has serious effects on human health. Mosquitoes breed in rubbish, spreading diseases such as malaria, dengue fever and zika.
Burning plastic releases seriously harmful cancer-causing chemicals into the air we breathe and endocrine-disrupting pollutants (which are even worse) enter the marine food chain when fish ingest plastic.
From humble beginnings in the Pacific in 2008, we have run programmes in 11 island nations to date alongside significant operations at home. We now have locally-registered chapters in Hawaii and Papua New Guinea and a strong network of ambassadors and partners.
Marine debris is a global challenge. The solutions however, must be locally-driven in order to deliver sustainable impact.
Many aid projects I have seen approach developing countries with expensive consultants who tell people what they need rather than listen to what they want. Often this approach fails in the long run, wasting critical donor money.
No doubt there is a need for expertise, but programmes need to be created and implemented on the ground with the people to increase the chances of success.
Sustainable Coastlines Papua New Guinea (SC PNG) was established in November 2015 to increase collaboration and develop the capacity of communities to address the issue at a local level.
This enables the use of educational resources that were developed elsewhere to be localised and targeted effectively.
To date our operational team in PNG has delivered education programmes with 22,388 local residents and involved 5,765 in hands-on clean-up activities.
SC PNG has partnered with World Vision PNG to help tackle the issue in Hanuabada village in Port Moresby. A large-scale clean-up activity was conducted last May, with 2647 villagers removing 18.75 tonnes of non-biodegradable waste, to launch the 4-year New Zealand government-funded Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) campaign.
There is, however a lot more work to do.
Our approach in PNG involves helping local people to create their own strategy to address their own challenges with access to expert knowledge for support.
We are, in the scheme of things, a small country without a significant aid budget. But we have technical expertise, a No 8 wire, ''can-do'' attitude and historically, we are thankfully not associated with regional controversy.
Unlike Australia, we don't run mining operations in the mineral-rich highlands and islands or operate a contentious detention centre in PNG for asylum seekers.
In Moresby, when I told people I was a Kiwi, there was an immediate positive reaction. I put this largely down to the excellent peacekeeping work that our Ministry of Foreign Affairs has delivered in Bougainville and in neighbouring East Timor. This has done our reputation in the Pacific no end of good.
I am confident that we can leverage New Zealand's unique position and learn from the solutions developed by people in PNG to deliver programmes across the region that address core needs such as sanitation.
It is abundantly clear that working in developing countries such as PNG has its challenges, but having seen the reaction of people who participate in a simple intervention like cleaning up the beach having fun while doing something good, I know that there is hope.
Volunteers from the market in Hanuabada Village, preventing plastic rubbish from entering the ocean via the drains. Photo / Striped Trees Productions via Priscilla Northe
This motivates us to continue the hard work.
It is clear that people want to do something to fix this problem, but in an underdeveloped country, they need proven resources and support to create solutions.
We start by identifying local organisations and developing their capacity with open-sourced tools and training under the ''Love Your Coast'' and ''Love Your Water'' platforms created for this purpose.
In PNG, because no groups existed with an aligned vision and with a clear demand for action, we went a step further and created a local charitable enterprise that is now becoming a vehicle for change.
SC PNG is now delivering pilot programmes which enable identified local leaders to deliver a tailored approach that works for the people of PNG.
Through the replicable Love Your Coast framework and committed ambassadors, positive action is rapidly up-scaling.
Early programme partners from the PNG Olympic Committee Athletes' Commission, with whom we have been working since 2012 have now developed into trainers who develop community education delivery skills.
They have delivered Love Your Coast sessions in eight provinces across PNG and the goal is to have trained educators in all 22 provinces of the country. This is strategically aimed at putting us out of a job in the long term, which is exactly what we want.
Alongside the inspiring achievements that my colleague Ryley Webster has made on the ground in-country, we now offer training services based at our newly-completed ''flagship'' education centre in the Wynyard Quarter of Auckland's waterfront.
This is perfectly positioned in the international hub for the Pacific and enables trainees to access professional support and learn from practical action on the ground.
NZAid has enabled us to progress this goal, by providing support for our first Papua New Guinean ambassador, Samantha Kuman, to come to Auckland on a short-term training scholarship.
Samantha has slotted into our team at the perfect time. We are in the middle of the Love Your Coast Manukau Harbour event, which has already seen more than 1800 volunteers remove more than 22,000 litres of rubbish and educational presentations delivered to 5500 students with two weeks still to go.
In addition, she is learning about effective fundraising, governance and non-profit accounting up to New Zealand standards. These are critical skills to take home and leverage for the growth of SC PNG, operating in a country rated in the highest quarter in the world for corruption, according to Transparency International.
In a place with significant challenges, addressing plastic pollution presents an opportunity for large-scale engagement with solid, quantifiable results. Crucially, it develops pride of place in areas where it is all too easy to become cynical about the enormity of the problems.
With local personnel leading the creation and implementation of these projects, critical leadership skills are developed that help communities tackle other issues.
If we can play even a small part in successfully cultivating and guiding solutions that have measurable affect in a place like PNG and learn from locally-developed solutions, I have no doubt that the Love Your Coast programme will continue to enable people to look after the places they love across the Pacific into the future.
If anyone is interested in learning more, offering advice or supporting our work in the islands, please feel free to email sam@sustainablecoastlines.org.
Sam Judd, 2013 Young New Zealander of the Year, is the co-founder and CEO of The Sustainable Coastlines Charitable Trust
