Congratulations to the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI) for the formal approval of its Comprehensive Integrated Solid Waste Management Plan, by the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), on September 25, 2025!
The crucial EPA approval unlocks access to nearly $34 million in additional federal funding. Sourced through the Additional Supplemental Appropriations for Disaster Relief Act of 2019 (ASADRA), these funds are specifically designated for solid waste and recycling infrastructure projects prioritized by the Plan to enhance, modernize, and develop a resilient solid waste and recycling infrastructure across Saipan, Tinian, and Rota in the years ahead.
GBB, along with its subcontractors GHD, Pacific Galleon, and Congruent Environmental Strategies, is proud of its extensive contribution to the development of this blueprint for a sustainable future for the CNMI. This effort will significantly increase the capacity to reduce, reuse, compost, and recycle materials, dramatically minimizing and diverting the amount of waste currently destined for disposal.
Involvement of the GBB Project Team
Through a rigorous competitive procurement process, the team led by GBB was selected by the CNMI to develop a comprehensive inter-island Solid Waste Management Plan. The primary mission was to help CNMI achieve its important and tangible goal of zero waste.
The plan, with a focus on zero waste, was to address all aspects of handling waste, from its generation to its final disposal. The effort was critical to accelerate the meaningful work of sustainably managing materials in a manner that prioritized responsible waste management, protection of the islands, and preservation of their beauty, for residents and visitors to enjoy for generations to come.
The Plan was to build off the existing community plans that were completed and solidify a clear and realistic path forward for the CNMI government to follow, including strategies for the prevention, collection, and processing of residential and commercial waste, as well as benchmark metrics to illustrate the progress that is made along the way. It was envisioned that the bigger picture goal of the project was to establish a detailed blueprint factoring the entire CNMI community as a system to collectively achieve the benefits of zero waste planning.
The GBB Project Team collaborated with the Office of Planning and Development, Department of Public Works – Solid Waste Management Division, and the Inter-Island Solid Waste Task Force as project leads to assess the capacity of entire infrastructure across the islands in the context of the technical, management, financial, economic and market options for sustainable solid waste and materials management in the CNMI. The goal was to build from, and unify, existing plans, and expand planning, staffing capabilities, and infrastructure capacity to include specific training plan recommendations to help build local staff capacity and to fill critical current data gaps to support improved forecasting of costs and needs in ongoing internal comprehensive and integrated planning to carry out Zero Waste policy and program development.
As part of the long-term planning, the GBB Project Team conducted a weight-based data assessment of existing and projected solid waste streams including Transfer Stations, the Marpi Landfill, and illegal dumps and dump sites. The assessment further included information from island waste streams from Rota, Tinian, and Northern Islands.
More information on the CNMI Office of Planning and Development website:
Waste characterization study by the GBB Project Team in Saipan.
Micro Beach at Garapan, Saipan
