Maldives launches national competency standard for waste to wealth

Maldives has launched a national competency standard for waste to wealth – introduced as part of the national strategic action plan to manage waste as a profitable resource.

The standard was launched by Environment Minister Aminath Shauna in a ceremony on Wednesday morning.

Speaking at the ceremony, Shauna said the government aimed to make waste an income generator, and stressed the need to develop skillful locals in communities across Maldives to safely manage waste.

She described the launch of the standard as an important step in efforts to manage waste and resources sustainably, minimize wastage, and turn waste to wealth.

Shauna said that waste management wasn’t something that could be solved by simply bringing in machinery, and that it was something that must begin from individual households.

“It’s something that begins from households. There must be arrangements to separate and put out waste produced by households, for councils or WAMCO to regularly collect the waste from the households, transport it to waste sites and compress it, and store it until it can be transported out of the island. There must also be a way to manage kitchen waste and agricultural waste,” she said.

Shauna said the problem required joint effort of the people, local councils, WAMCO, and all government institutions.

The national competency standard for waste to wealth was compiled with assistance from the World Bank.

A training package has also been compiled, which includes resources needed to train people in waste management in accordance with the standard. The resources will be used to train people in local communities to manage efforts to turn waste to wealth.