Ocean Plastics Reduction is a five-year project to reduce virgin plastics by decreasing plastic inputs and products and improving integrated solid waste management (SWM) practices. The project’s diverse consortium uses a systems-strengthening approach, working alongside local partners to target system inefficiencies and areas of reliance on virgin plastics. The  goal is to increase participation in SWM programs and prevent thousands of tons of plastic from leaking into the environment.

Implementing Partner: Research Triangle Institute (RTI International): Total Estimated Cost: $24 million Performance Period: September 2022 - September 2027: Operational in both Maldives and Sri Lanka.

ACTIVITIES

  • Reduce Reliance on Virgin Plastic Inputs and Products: The project analyzes supply chains and regulatory environments to identify opportunities for, and potential barriers to, reduction. The project promotes product and process alternatives to plastic inputs and supports extended producer responsibility, polluter pay principles, and other approaches that reduce plastic inputs.
  • Professionalize, Improve, and Expand SWM: Waste management services vary in Maldives and rely on local informal actors for the collection, transport, segregation, recycling, and disposal of solid waste. In partnership with the government and private sector,the project strengthens service delivery models, professionalizing every step of the waste disposal process, all while promoting public and private buy-in for SWM. 
  • Empower Communities to Drive Local Solutions: Recognizing that the most important actors in improving waste management are often the least represented in decision-making, the project will support independent waste collectors and women-owned recycling businesses. Communities will be empowered to work with local governments to identify opportunities to reduce, reuse, and recycle plastics, as well as to design and implement effective containment, collection, segregation, and recycling approaches.  

  • Strengthen the Enabling Environment for SWM: The activity will strengthen the government’s ability to manage SWM and improve solid waste data collection, with a focus on increasing local capacity to prevent and/or respond to the solid waste-related impacts of disasters, e.g., disease outbreaks. 

RESULTS

  • Launched a Private Sector Engagement Forum with the participation of 45 companies from brand owners, plastics manufacturers, material recovery facilities, commercial banks, incubation firms and Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) to promote private sector leadership in addressing plastic pollution and waste management.
  • Supported Island Council representatives and Women's Development Council members in Dhigurah, Mathiveri, and Bodufolhudhoo in Maldives to refine SWM plans with an emphasis on financial management.
  • Trained council members and participants from 19 atolls, Waste Management Corporation Ltd., and the Asian Development Bank on collective action for SWM, with an emphasis on collaboration between local communities and local governments.