WAMCO clears landfills in Kaashidhoo and Thulusdhoo islands
2,800 tonnes of waste cleared from K. Thulusdhoo in two weeks
Mountains of years-old waste have been cleared and dismantled across islands of the Maldives under the initiative
Waste Management Corporation Limited (WAMCO) have been undertaking their assigned task of clearing out waste from islands across Maldives, with substantive progress from the islands of Kaashidhoo and Thulushdhoo in Kaafu atoll.
The incumbent administration had assigned WAMCO to clear landfills from the 20 islands with the most accumulated waste across Maldives, within a period of seven months. WAMCO have been providing updates on their efforts through their twitter handle, which detail that substantive work was done to clear collected waste from the islands Kaashidhoo and Thulushdhoo of Kaafu atoll.
WAMCO have revealed that they cleared 2,800 tonnes of waste from K. Thulusdhoo over a period of two weeks. WAMCO also confirmed that they had cleared the lands surrounding Thulusdhoo's waste dumping site under the project, where waste had been disposed of illegally.
In addition to this, under the project to clear dumpsites and landfills from across islands, WAMCO began work to dispose of waste from K. Kaashidhoo on 3 March. Much of the waste from Kaashidhoo and Thulusdhoo have been cleared, and a visible change is apparent as mountains of waste are slowly being dismantled across islands. Citizens of both islands have expressed hopes that a permanent solution to waste management will be afforded to them in the near future.
WAMCO was assigned to clear out dumpsites from the 20 islands with the most accumulated waste across Maldives on 1 March, but have been active in resolving waste management across islands since before then. As such, over 40 percent of the work is complete to have accumulated waste cleared from L. Fonadhoo, and it is expected that over 4,000 tonnes of waste will need to be cleared from Fonadhoo alone.
WAMCO note the biggest obstacle to clearing out these dumpsites is that none of the waste is segregated based on type. WAMCO further noted that they have been filtering out waste that can be managed and disposed of safely on the islands.
Further, WAMCO have now cleared 400 tonnes of waste from the Maldives northern hub of Kulhudhuffushi City, where efforts were initiated on February 7. While the Kulhudhuffushi dumpsite has been used as a landfill for almost 20 years, WAMCO expects they will need to clear 92,000 tonnes of waste from the site.
In addition to this, work is being conducted to clear and manage waste accumulated on the islands of Guraidhoo and Fuvahmulah City as well.
Earlier in February, President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih had in his Third Presidential Address, detailed plans to have waste cleared out from dumpsites and landfills across 20 islands with the most accumulated waste. The President further detailed that efforts were being conducted to establish waste management facilities across three regions within the Maldives. President Solih further affirmed his administration's commitment to sustainable waste management policies, despite the huge financial costs associated with implementing such systems.
