President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih has launched a campaign to eliminate single-use plastic in the President’s Office.

The campaign was launched on Sunday morning, at a ceremony held at the office where the newly-sworn in president addressed his staff for the first time.

Noting that most of the non-biodegradable bottles end up in the ocean, President Solih highlighted that “we have sadly been rather negligent to our reefs and oceans” despite tourism and fishing being the biggest contributors to the country’s income.

“Overtime these plastic and toxic materials make their way into the food chain of the marine life, and in turn into our food chain,” stated the president.

Further highlighting that the use of single-use plastic such as plastic bags, PET plastic bottles, and plastic wrappers in the Maldives “is at an alarmingly high rate,” President Solih stated that “the daily use of plastic water bottles in capital Malé alone reaches 280,000.”

He also noted that over 860 metric tonne of trash is thrown into the sea per day.

“The solution is to change our lifestyle. Minimize waste and sustain our resources. Minimize the use of non-biodegradable plastic,” added the president.

Noting that the campaign to ban single-use plastic is “an important step towards the protection and preservation of [the] environment”, the president expressed hope that the same will be done in all ministries and government offices within the first 100 days of the administration.

After launching the campaign to eliminate single-use plastic, President Solih introduced multi-use bottles and bags by presenting glass bottles to the employees at the President’s Office.