Getting a Plastics Phase-Out Right in the Maldives

The Environment Minister, Dr Hussain Rasheed Hassan, tweeted recently that Maldives is planning a phase-out of single-use plastics. On 18 June, Addu City Council passed a resolution banning single-use plastics in the southern atoll from June next year. And most recently, the parliament voted in favour of a single-use plastics ban. For anyone who has witnessed the environmental horror of hundreds of plastic bottles littering Maldivian beaches, plastic bags tangled up in coral reefs, or the open bonfires of plastic garbage on local islands, this is wonderful news.

The Environment Ministry has not yet announced which plastics will be phased out, but is expected to do so soon. Likewise, Addu City Council hasn’t yet drawn up the details of its ban. As the head of an NGO, Common Seas, that has advised numerous governments on phasing-out the use of single-use plastics, I think it might be helpful to set down a few recommendations, because implementing plastics ban is trickier than it might seem.