Waste management project of $6.5m launched

A $6.5m project to establish a good-standard waste management system for R., B., Lh., and N. atolls has been launched yesterday.

Titled Maldives Environmental Management Project (MEMP), the project seeks to improve and develop a socially and environmentally sustainable system of solid waste management that reduces the associated environmental and public health risks.

According to Ministry of Environment, a system will be established to gather waste from the four atolls to Vandhoo, an uninhabited island in R. atoll. The waste will then be combusted by the environment-friendly method of incineration.

R. Vandhoo was selected to gather waste due to its location. The island is accessible to 60 percent of the people of the four atolls in three hours on a normal boat, and 100 percent of people in four hours.

Under the project, work began in Dhuvaafaru to remove waste at island level - all waste in Dhuvaafaru was put on a barge and removed from the island yesterday.

Other islands where the project will commence include B. Eydhafushi, Lh. Hinnavaru, Lh. Naifaru, and N. Manadhoo.

The project was launched yesterday by Minister of Environment Mariyam Shakeela at a ceremony in Dhuvaafaru.

Speaking at the ceremony, Shakeela said that waste management is one of the most serious challenges faced by the islands in Maldives today, and that the government gives great importance to resolving this issue. The regional waste management system will be completed before the end of 2013, making it the first such system in the Maldives to date.

She also said that a good waste management system can only be established if waste creators act responsibly.

The four concerned atolls are made up of 46 inhabited islands, 6911 households, 43539 citizens, 226 uninhabited islands, 14 resorts, 15 islands leased for resort development, and 9 industrial islands. The four atolls produce 52 tons of waste daily.