Opinion: Trash in Paradise — What can be done?

The Maldives, despite being known for its pristine beaches and oceans, is marred by the issue of littering — particularly in its capital city of Male’. While Maldives is globally known for its natural land and marine beauty, littering has posed a serious threat to its environment, economy and future.

The most common form of litter found is plastic bottles on beaches, discarded food and furniture on the roads etc. This is all due to many major sources such as the overflow of tourism, insufficient disposal systems which are more apparent in smaller islands, and our lack of public awareness which has led to a lacking mindset when it comes to the environment of our nation. The government has also been lax on enforcing policies against littering on the roads and other types of environment.

While there are solutions that are a step in the right direction such as clean-up initiatives and waste-to-energy projects brought forth by the government. NGOs and committees like the Save The Beach Maldives and Parley for The Oceans have made multiple projects dedicated to making our nation waste-free. We need to step it up further as a nation. We need to be more vocal about our environments, and social media is the perfect avenue to launch campaigns. Stricter regulations and laws must be implemented. We are not talking just a slap on the wrist, but harsh fines for one-time offenses and later on jail time for repeats of the offense.

As a nation, it is our responsibility to look after our nation, and we must also urge each other the governing body that if we want our nation to survive— our country must be as clean as we promote it to be.