Abstract:
Many small island developing states use tourism as a development factor. For the Cook Islands, tourism has been the focus of the country’s development and as a result its key sector, the accommodation industry, has grown. The accommodation sector globally is an excessive generator of solid waste. However, the problem exists with the conflict between businesses’ bottom line and environmental sustainability. Sustainable management of solid waste within the accommodation sector is vital if the Cook Islands are to develop and continue to use tourism to do so. Constraints of developing countries are well repeated throughout the literature arguing for a need of a framework which is within a country’s capacity. This research considers the Cook Islands, more specifically Rarotonga’s, unique environment in the exploration of cross sector influence to encourage sustainable solid waste practices within the accommodation sector. An extensive document analysis showed that the research was an area of priority. Semi-structured interviews were used to explore inter-organisational relationships and influence across sectors’ that can encourage sustainable solid waste practices. Observation was used to confirm interview answers and to gain a wider perspective of the solid waste system on Rarotonga. The research draws on the sustainable development and organisational literature that identifies the significance of the need for innovative influences within a society to drive sustainability initiatives. This research found that the accommodation sector had a high degree of sustainable values and were subject to limited inter-organisational influence. Lack of funding was identified as the core to the unsustainable management of solid waste on Rarotonga. The constraints to Rarotonga’s solid waste system were found to be the filter down effects from limited allocated funds. A collaborative framework for the accommodation industry to influence decision makers to increase funding was a finding that was concluded as the basis to drive a sustainable solid waste management system on Rarotonga for future sustainable development. Islands. iii
