The Pacific Innovation Forum for Climate and Environment (PIFCE) 1st - 3rd July, 2026

Ocean Environmental Solutions

Brief overview

Ocean Environmental Solutions is a Vanuatu-based environmental services initiative focused on reducing marine and land-based pollution through waste-oil recovery and reuse. Vanuatu currently lacks an effective waste-oil collection system, leading to illegal dumping that harms soil, waterways, reefs, fisheries, and public health. OES aims to collect used oil from maritime, industrial, commercial, and generator users, then process it into reusable fuel for industrial boilers and similar applications. By turning a hazardous waste stream into a lower-cost energy resource, OES supports circular-economy development, pollution prevention, climate resilience, and practical environmental protection for small island communities.

Your organisation’s goals

Ocean Environmental Solutions’ core environmental service is the collection, processing, and reuse of waste oil in Vanuatu. Vanuatu imports significant volumes of lubricating oil and fuel, but lacks an adequate national system for collecting and managing used oil after it has served its original purpose. As a result, waste oil is often stored unsafely, disposed of improperly, or illegally dumped, creating risks to soil, groundwater, harbours, reefs, fisheries, and public health.

OES provides a structured waste-oil recovery service for vessels, generators, workshops, industrial users, commercial operators, and other oil-generating customers. Collected oil is processed to remove water, sediment, and other impurities so it can be reused as fuel in suitable industrial boilers, furnaces, and similar applications.

This service directly supports environmental protection by preventing hazardous oil from entering land and marine environments. It also supports climate-related outcomes by reducing demand for imported fuel, lowering the shipping and transport impacts associated with fuel imports, and offering customers a lower-cost recovered fuel alternative. OES also aims to improve compliance, support responsible business practices, and demonstrate a practical island-based solution to waste-oil pollution.

Describe your innovation

Ocean Environmental Solutions wishes to feature its waste-oil recovery and reuse model for Vanuatu. The innovation is a practical circular-economy service that collects used petroleum products from vessels, generators, workshops, industrial users, and commercial operators, then processes the recovered oil so it can be reused as fuel in industrial boilers, furnaces, and similar applications.

This addresses an urgent environmental challenge in Vanuatu and other Pacific Island Countries and Territories: Waste oil is often not collected through a formal national system, leaving businesses and vessel operators with limited lawful disposal options. As a result, used oil may be dumped on land, discharged into drains, stored unsafely, or released into coastal environments. Even small quantities can contaminate soil and groundwater, damage reefs and fisheries, and create long-term public health and livelihood impacts.

The model also contributes to climate action by extending the useful life of petroleum products and reducing demand for imported virgin fuel in suitable industrial applications. Rather than treating waste oil only as a disposal problem, OES converts it into a managed resource, reducing pollution while creating a lower-cost local fuel option.

This innovation is particularly relevant for PICTs because island economies face high fuel-import costs, limited hazardous-waste infrastructure, small and dispersed markets, and fragile coastal ecosystems. Many islands cannot justify large-scale industrial waste systems, but they still generate waste oil from shipping, power generation, construction, tourism, and vehicle maintenance. OES offers a scalable, locally adapted model that can begin with basic collection and processing, then expand across islands and sectors. It demonstrates how Pacific communities can reduce pollution, improve environmental compliance, protect marine resources, and build circular-economy solutions using practical technology suited to island conditions.

How is this solution is innovative?

OES is innovative because it is creating a practical solution to a problem that is currently not being addressed in Vanuatu: Significant volumes of oil are imported and used, but there is no adequate national system to collect and manage the waste oil generated afterward. Without a lawful and practical disposal pathway, waste oil is often stored indefinitely, dumped illegally, or released into the environment, harming soil, waterways, harbours, reefs, and coastal ecosystems. OES recognized this gap and has invested in a local facility to collect, process, and reuse waste oil. The solution converts used oil from vessels, generators, workshops, and industrial users into a recovered fuel suitable for boilers, furnaces, and similar applications. The innovation is practical, local, and immediately relevant. Rather than relying on export, landfill disposal, or future government infrastructure, OES is building an in-country system that gives businesses and communities a responsible disposal option while creating a lower-cost fuel alternative. For Pacific Island Countries and Territories, this model is highly relevant because it reduces pollution, lowers fuel-import dependence, and provides an affordable, scalable approach suited to small island economies.

How can the innovation be replicated and scaled up in other PICTs?

The OES model can be replicated in other Pacific Island Countries and Territories by starting with a practical assessment of local oil imports, major waste-oil generators, current disposal practices, and potential end users for recovered fuel. The model can then be scaled through partnerships with ports, utilities, shipping companies, workshops, fuel distributors, local governments, and environmental regulators.

Institutional partnerships are important because waste-oil recovery requires coordination between generators, collectors, processors, regulators, and fuel users. Governments and port authorities can support the model by requiring proper waste-oil disposal, licensing approved collectors, and encouraging vessels and businesses to use lawful recovery services.

Financing can combine private investment, climate and environment grants, concessional loans, donor support, and service contracts with major waste-oil generators. Revenue can come from collection fees, processing services, and sale of recovered fuel at below-market rates.

Capacity requirements are realistic for PICTs: Trained operators, basic testing and handling procedures, safe storage tanks, transport equipment, processing systems, environmental safeguards, and simple compliance records. Once proven in one island or port, the model can expand through satellite collection points, mobile collection, and regional partnerships linking smaller islands to a central processing facility.

How is the solution cost‑effective and affordable in the context of Pacific Island Countries and Territories (PICTs)?

OES is designed to be cost-effective and affordable in the context of Pacific Island Countries and Territories because it addresses two cost pressures at the same time: The high cost of importing fuel and the lack of affordable waste-oil disposal options.

For end users such as MSMEs, vessel operators, workshops, industrial users, and local government facilities, the solution provides a practical way to dispose of used oil responsibly while potentially reducing fuel costs. Instead of waste oil being stored, dumped, or handled informally, OES collects and processes it for reuse as fuel in suitable industrial applications. The recovered fuel can then be sold at below-market rates, creating savings for customers who would otherwise rely entirely on imported diesel or fuel oil.

This is particularly important in PICTs, where fuel prices are high due to distance, shipping costs, small markets, and import dependence. By reusing oil already present in-country, OES helps reduce demand for imported fuel, lowers operating costs for suitable users, and reduces the environmental impacts associated with both marine fuel transport and illegal waste-oil dumping. The model therefore offers a practical affordability benefit while improving environmental protection.

Locations (country, island, or community) where this solution has been piloted and/or implemented

Efate Island, Vanuatu

Learn more:

https://www.facebook.com/oceanenvironmentalsolutions/

Abyss Vanuatu Ocean Institute

About

Abyss Vanuatu Ocean Institute (AVOI) is a science-led, community-driven initiative advancing marine restoration, climate resilience and sustainable blue economy development in Vanuatu. Through its Havannah Harbour pilot, AVOI integrates Reef Ball deployment, artificial reef design, drone-enabled monitoring and workforce training via the Vanuatu Ocean Rangers. The model combines innovation and local stewardship to restore ecosystems, strengthen biodiversity and support climate adaptation. By linking technology, community engagement and practical delivery, AVOI is developing a scalable national framework that helps translate ocean policy into measurable outcomes, creating jobs, building local capability and supporting long-term environmental resilience across island communities.

Abyss Vanuatu Ocean Institute (AVOI) delivers integrated, science-led services focused on marine restoration, climate resilience and sustainable environmental management. Its core services include the design and deployment of Reef Ball artificial reef systems and managed vessel reefs to restore degraded marine habitats, enhance biodiversity and support fisheries recovery. AVOI also provides drone-enabled monitoring and survey services, using autonomous and manned systems to track climate impacts, support conservation planning and improve data-driven decision-making across marine and coastal environments.

A central component is the development of the Vanuatu Ocean Rangers program, which builds local workforce capability in restoration, monitoring, conservation and environmental stewardship. AVOI also supports Marine Protected Area (MPA) design, ecological baseline assessments and long-term monitoring frameworks aligned with national ocean policy objectives.

Through community engagement, eco-tourism integration and applied innovation, AVOI connects environmental protection with economic opportunity. Its Havannah Harbour pilot serves as a scalable model to deliver practical climate adaptation, strengthen ecosystem resilience and enable coordinated, whole-of-government environmental outcomes across Vanuatu.

The Innovation

One of AVOI’s key innovations is the integration of the Vanuatu Ocean Ranger program with locally delivered marine restoration systems, including Reef Ball fabrication and deployment. This model combines workforce development, community engagement and practical restoration into a single, scalable framework designed for island environments.

Through structured Vanuatu Ocean Ranger Camps, over a 3 day period AVOI identifies and trains local Ni-Vanuatu participants in marine conservation, Scientific diving, restoration techniques, monitoring and stewardship. One aspect of the Rangers responsibilities is to support the fabrication and deployment of Reef Ball artificial reef systems using locally sourced materials and regional supply chains, significantly reducing costs and increasing local ownership. The approach enables degraded reef systems to be restored while simultaneously building in-country capability and employment pathways, guided by our National AVOI Play Book at its core.

This innovation directly addresses climate change by strengthening reef resilience, supporting fisheries recovery and enhancing coastal protection against storm surge and extreme weather events. It also improves ecosystem health, which is critical for food security and long-term adaptation in Pacific Island Countries and Territories (PICTs).

What makes this model particularly relevant for PICTs is its practicality and scalability. It does not rely on high-cost external inputs but instead builds local capacity, integrates customary stewardship and aligns with government policy frameworks. The system can be replicated across islands using a consistent training, deployment and governance approach.

Supported by drone-enabled monitoring and AI self learning data collection, AVOI’s model provides a cost-effective, community-led solution that connects restoration, climate resilience and sustainable economic opportunity in a way that is both locally grounded and nationally scalable.

How is this solution innovative?

AVOI’s solution is innovative because it integrates community workforce development, marine restoration and applied technology into a single, scalable delivery model tailored for island environments. Rather than treating conservation, employment and climate adaptation as separate challenges, AVOI combines them through the Vanuatu Ocean Ranger program and locally delivered Reef Ball restoration systems. This creates a practical pathway where communities are directly trained and employed to restore and monitor their own marine ecosystems. The model also incorporates drone-enabled monitoring and emerging AI-supported survey systems to improve data collection, ecological tracking and rapid response capability, including in remote and disaster-affected areas. This blend of low-cost, locally sourced restoration methods with advanced monitoring technology allows for both accessibility and scientific rigour. What makes the approach particularly innovative is its focus on scalability and replication. By developing a standardised training, deployment and governance framework, AVOI provides a repeatable model based on a National AVOI Play book that can be adapted across Pacific Island Countries, helping translate policy into measurable, community-led climate and environmental outcomes.

How can the innovation be replicated and scaled up in other PICTs

AVOI’s model is designed for replication across Pacific Island Countries and Territories (PICTs) through a structured, partnership-driven and capacity-focused approach. Following an initial two-year proof-of-concept in Vanuatu, AVOI will develop a refined National PICT Playbook outlining standard operating procedures (SOPs) and safe work method statements (SWMS), delivered in both English and Bislama, with visual and pictorial elements to ensure accessibility across diverse communities.

Scaling will be enabled through institutional partnerships with government agencies, regional bodies, scientific partners such as UTS, and local stakeholders, supported by blended financing models including public-private partnerships, eco-tourism revenue streams and conservation funding.

A key component is the development of a simplified, citizen science-based survey framework focused on key indicator species. This approach lowers technical barriers, enabling participation from communities with varying levels of formal education while strengthening data collection and stewardship.

By combining local workforce training, accessible science, and standardised systems, AVOI creates a practical, low-cost model that can be adapted regionally, empowering communities while supporting climate resilience, biodiversity restoration and sustainable economic development across PICTs.

Is your solution cost‑effective and affordable in the context of Pacific Island Countries and Territories (PICTs)?

AVOI’s solution is designed to be highly cost-effective and affordable for communities, local governments and small operators across PICTs. A core principle of the model is the use of locally available materials, including aggregates from regional quarries and, where appropriate, surplus or repurposed government materials. This significantly reduces construction and deployment costs for Reef Ball systems and associated infrastructure.

From an end-user perspective, the model lowers financial barriers by building local capability through the Vanuatu Ocean Ranger Camp Initiative and subsequent program, reducing reliance on external expertise and enabling communities to deliver and maintain restoration activities themselves. The integration of eco-tourism also creates revenue-generating opportunities that can help offset ongoing costs.

Affordability is further strengthened through the development of a streamlined cross-departmental approval pathway within the AVOI Playbook. By providing clear guidance on site selection, environmental considerations and standardised processes, local governments can reduce delays, duplication and administrative costs, enabling more efficient project delivery at scale.

Together, these elements create a low-cost, accessible and sustainable model that is practical for widespread adoption across PICTs.

Where is this being piloted?

AVOI’s solution is being piloted in Vanuatu, with Havannah Harbour (North-West Efate) identified as the primary proof-of-concept site, supported by a permanent operational and training hub at Lot 149, Lapita Estate. While over 1,000,000 Reef Balls have been deployed globally across more than 80 countries, this will be the first integrated deployment of this system in Vanuatu. The pilot combines initial baseline surveys across 12 regions using Reef Life Survey (RLS Methodology) prior to any deployments. Once 6 of the sites are selected for deployment we will deploy 50m x 10m of Reef Ball habitat restoration—designed as a 500+ year solution—, allowing us to. Continue to conduct 6 monthly replicated surveys in exactly the same 50m transects to demonstrate recruitment changes providing proof of concept. Together with the Vanuatu Ocean Ranger program, which trains and employs local Ni-Vanuatu to deliver restoration, monitoring and stewardship, supported by drone-enabled surveying, community engagement and eco-tourism integration. The approach is intentionally holistic, linking marine restoration, climate resilience, workforce development, local supply chains and government coordination into a single, place-based model. The Havannah Harbour pilot will be used to refine systems, demonstrate measurable outcomes and establish a scalable framework for national and regional replication across PICTs, through the development of our AVOI National Playbook, helping guide replication across all our satellite sites. Initial training will be conducted through AVOI Headquarters in Havannah Harbour, with Ranger selection conducted through a multi-day conservation camp where participant will all leave with new knowledge and appreciation for the terrestrial and marine environment, and Ocean Rangers selected for employment within the AVOI team at the conclusion of the camps.