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Thousands join Malé clean-up event

Volunteers from government offices, independent bodies and state-owned companies, as well as schools and private groups, collected 70 tonnes of waste.

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7 years ago

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More than 4,000 volunteers joined a clean-up event in Malé and the capital’s suburb Vilimalé Saturday morning.

Volunteers from government offices, independent bodies and state-owned companies, as well as from schools and private groups, collected 70 tonnes of waste before noon, according to the environment ministry.

Ministers, lawmakers and senior government officials joined the event, which began at 6 am near the Malé sports grounds.

The programme dubbed Maa Saafu Malé was organised by the environment ministry and the Waste Management Corporation, which on Thursday took over cleaning Malé from the housing ministry.

Saturday’s clean-up came with environmental authorities under fire from the city council.

According to Deputy Mayor Shamau Shareef, more than 300 trees have been cut down in recent weeks. Aside from historic trees felled for the Malé outer road expansion project, several old trees have been removed from the Bandaara and Salahuddin mosque courtyards.

Appearing on Raajje TV Friday night, Shamau also questioned WAMCO’s ability to keep the congested capital island clean and free of litter.

Last week, the opposition-dominated council warned that the increasing litter on the streets could lead to the spread of diseases.

The per capita waste generation in the capital is estimated to be 1.7kg per day with an annual increase of four percent. According to the environment ministry, some 255,826 metric tonnes of solid waste was generated in Malé in 2014, a 155 percent increase over the preceding decade.

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