Izu Consultancy is working with the island Council of Holhuhdoo to submit a project proposal to the Embassy of Japan in the Maldives under the Grant Assistance for Grassroots Human Security Projects (GGP). The purpose of the project proposal is Upgrading of Waste Management System in N. Holhudhoo
Why?
In Maldives, the rapid economic growth at 8.4 percent per year since 1970 is also accompanied by the critical issue of solid waste management in the islands. An assessment by Maldives Environmental Management Project (MEMP) funded by the International Development Association (IDA) suggests that on average each person in an island will produce 0.79/per day of solid waste, indicating that in Holhudhoo with an estimated population of 2200 people (including expat community) produces 1738 kgs of solid waste every day.
The composition of waste is primary factor that has received increased attention. Until recently Holhudhoo, for example, was practicing (traditional) safe waste management practices due to high percentage of organic waste. However, as income increased consumers started purchasing more prepared foods, and introduction of bottled water has significantly increased plastic use to everyday living. In 2015, for instance, 3% of waste is plastics and anecdotal evidence suggests that this percentage appears to be increasing rapidly.
Although the island has established ‘Island Waste Management Site’ (IWMS) in 2000, a fire in 2017 has done major damages to the site and equipments used for waste management. As a result, IWMS has no boundary walls, and there are no proper machinary to collect, segregate and dispose waste. Figure 1 and 2 shows how the IWMS looks after the fire incident. In Figure 3 shows currently how it looks like after we have cleared the area.
since 2017 at the island waste is collected from households by a private operator paid by the council. For the collection each household pays a small fee. To collect waste from household’s the council has outsourced to a third-party Operator (TPO). In rare cases, waste is carried by householders to IWMC. Every day TPO collect nappies/ organic waste from all the households and taken to IWMC, non-organic waste is collected twice a week. Household will segregate all the non-organic waste to 5 categories. That is plastic, tins/cans, woods, cardboards, glass. IWMC has limited space, so organic waste is disposed into the sea by the TPO, and Island Council pays to Waste Management Corporation Limited (WAMCO) to take non-organic waste to Zone Waste Management Centre in Raa Atoll once every month. However, often WAMCO takes between 4-5 months to collect waste, and IWMC often reach capacity. As a result, waste piles are sometimes burned creating air emissions such as particulates (smoke) and, possibly, toxics.
Given the above, both island council and local community is working to deal with problem of rapidly increasing waste (espcially non-organic), and improve the existing infrastructure, machinary and methods of waste management. And this project aims to compliment this ongoing effort.
Objectives of the Project
Develop and Construct Island Waste Management Site . The site is already selected and avialable for construction (please refer to Holhudhoo land use plan in Appendix-A). Council will be building boundary walls, waste seperation units and a gate.
Provide collection and disposal equipment and infrastructure to reclamation of recyclable materials from waste streams and develop habit of waste management that is consistent with national solid waste management policy.
Encourage community participation in and awareness about good waste management practices. Here the focus will be to make use of new equipment and machineries to engage and inform the community about safe handling and good waste management practices.
Develop and deliver waste awareness and training campaigns and inform the community about the waste management system and good waste management practices for the waste they produce.