Sirru Fen Fushi on the Maldives, an idyllic spot with a plastic problem. — Photo: Carola Frentzen/dpa
Plastic in the sea and “ghost nets” that endanger marine life are causing a headache in the tropical Maldivian paradise. At the same time, disposing of marine debris in remote island states is no easy task.
Now, hotels are coming up with new ways of protecting the environment and are even turning the debris into something beautiful and creative. Take the Sirru Fen Fushi resort on the Shaviyani Atoll, around 230km north of the main island of Male.
There, environmental experts helped locals set up a sustainability laboratory for recycling plastic on site. Visitors can see first-hand how plastics are melted down and then pressed into turtle-shaped key rings or luggage tags on a state-of-the-art extrusion system.
Remote atolls in the Maldives are writhing under mounds of global waste but a is giving plastic and fishing nets a new lease of life. — CAROLA FRENTZEN/dpa
The choice of turtles as a motif was no coincidence. The seas off the resort are teeming with endangered species, particularly the critically endangered Hawksbill and Olive Ridley turtles.
A marine biologist scours beaches to secure and monitor all the turtle nests. When they hatch, a team helps them reach the sea safely.
“Most of the rubbish we find was washed up from far-flung places like China or India,” says Fazir, who works in the centre. More than 4,000kg of plastic have been reused in the recycling centre so far.
This has resulted in rainbow furniture, bright blue garbage cans and fascinating works of art. Countless ghost nets have also been fished out of the Indian Ocean, untangled and given a second lease of life as pretty bracelets or luggage tags.
Souvenirs made from marine debris at a resort in the Maldives. — CAROLA FRENTZEN/dpa
Ghost nets are fishing nets that have been lost during fishing or deliberately dumped at sea. These nets are the bane of the seas as they take hundreds of years to decompose on the seabed. Whales, seals, seabirds and turtles soon die in what become fatal traps.
Since 2022, nearly 20 specimens have been rescued from the turquoise waters off Sirru Fen Fushi alone after becoming entangled in the synthetic nets.
As part of the project, school classes in the area are encouraged to teach children about protecting the environment. Youngsters sometimes go to the beaches with rubbish bags in hand to remove litter. Upcycled items such as rulers and boards are donated to schools. The aim is to show children that they can be part of the solution to the growing waste problem, the hotel’s website says. – dpa
