Last week was Clean Up South Asia Week (4th–10th November), and we were thrilled to represent the Maldives in this regional initiative!
The Clean Up South Asia campaign, driven by passionate youths across South Asia, is the first of its kind. The movement aims to address the issues of waste mismanagement through awareness and community clean-ups.
We hope that much like World Ocean Day and Earth Day, South Asia Clean-Up Week becomes an annual event marked in everyone’s calendars. Â
Why South Asia?
South Asia is home to some of the world’s most breathtaking landscapes, but rapid development, urbanization and commercialization have led to an overflow of waste—plastic, non-biodegradables, and other pollutants that are threatening the health of South Asia’s natural environments.
As future leaders, we are committed to rekindling the connection between people and nature, upholding the ways our ancestors preserved the symbiotic relationship we have with our environment by giving and taking sustainably, so that generations to come can enjoy Earth’s natural wonders.
This is why we are joining forces with other youths from across the region, including Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bhutan, India, and Pakistan, to tackle the issue of waste mismanagement and work towards a cleaner and safer future.
Read on to learn how Atoll Marine Centre contributed during #CLEANUPSOUTHASIAWEEK.
Day 1: Harbour Clean-Up
We kicked off the week with a beach clean at Naifaru Harbour alongside our team of volunteers.
The beach next to the harbour unfortunately has a staggering amount of litter – a shocking sight for our volunteers and a stark contrast to the pristine image that many associate with beaches in the Maldives.
Sadly, with frequent boat traffic and lots of people passing through the area regularly, in addition to minimal disposal options - trash accumulates quickly around the harbour, making clean-ups feel like a daunting and overwhelming task.
Yet, in just one hour, our dedicated volunteers filled two jumbo bags with plastic and other waste—a reminder that every small effort counts.
Although this may have felt like a small dent in the amount of litter surrounding us, it’s encouraging to see how much we were able to remove in such a short time.
Through clean-ups like this, we hope to inspire a larger movement of change, showing that with frequent, focused, and united efforts, it’s possible to make a significant impact.
Soon, we’ll be installing three community bins around the harbour, supported by a grant from Allied Community Fund and coordination with the local council. This is a small but meaningful step toward addressing the issue at its source, hopefully making waste disposal more accessible for the community in Naifaru. Â
Day 2: Upcycling Workshop
In partnership with Atoll Volunteers, AMC regularly hosts upcycling sessions to repurpose ghost nets collected from local beaches, by transforming them into keychains and bracelets.
On day two of Clean Up South Asia week, we held one of these upcycling sessions for our group of international volunteers, showing them how we can turn waste into something valuable and meaningful.
By doing this, we hope to inspire others to look at trash through a different lens and consider how they can repurpose items before throwing them away, both while they are here in the Maldives, and after they leave.
The session started with a briefing on the environmental impact of ghost nets, highlighting how they pose a serious threat to marine life when left adrift in the ocean.
Day 3: Snorkel Clean-Up on Naifaru House Reef
On day 3, we took our clean-up efforts underwater, bringing our volunteers along for a clean-up snorkel on our house reef!
By the end of the clean-up, we had gathered six full bags of waste! We then conducted a survey on the types of trash we found to include in our database. The most common items were plastic fragments, fishing line, aluminum cans, and cement bags.
Although there is still more litter to collect on our house reef, each clean-up helps restore a little more of the reef’s natural beauty and creates a cleaner environment for the marine life that call it home.
Day 4: Velaa Beach Clean-Up
On day 4, we moved our clean-up efforts back on land to Velaa Beach, which is located right outside our marine centre!
Joined once again by our international volunteers, we began collecting trash from along the beach. Although litter is a constant challenge here, frequent clean-ups help prevent some of it from drifting into the ocean.
As with all our beach cleans, we separate general waste from plastic bottles so that we can ship them to Malé. Through our partnership with Parley Maldives, these plastic bottles then get processed into new materials that are used by companies as big as Adidas!
Read more about our partnership with Parley here.
Day 5: Resort Marine Biologists
On day five of Clean Up South Asia week, our Naifaru-based team enjoyed a well-deserved day off, but our resort marine biologists kept the momentum going!
Athif, AMC’s Sea Turtle Biologist based at Six Senses Kanuhura, organized a snorkel clean-up with resort staff, and Rafha, our Marine Biologist at Amilla Maldives in Baa atoll, led similar efforts. Â
While resort islands have much less waste littering their beaches compared to local and uninhabited islands, due to the different resources they have available to them, the presence of litter around these islands serves as a reminder that no island is exempt from the problem, and that working together to clean up the environment is both extremely worthwhile and necessary.
We are incredibly proud of our resort marine biologists for rallying their colleagues to take action, proving that environmental stewardship is a shared responsibility!
Read more about our partnerships with resorts here.
Day 6: Clean-Up Dive
On day six, the team in Naifaru jumped back into action, this time with a clean-up dive in collaboration with our partner dive shop Aqua Dive & Water Sports.
The team focused on the area below the swim track on Velaa Beach. This spot is a favorite for families since the swim track creates a safe, confined space for children to practice their swimming skills and have fun in the water. Unfortunately, though, this also means the seabed below can accumulate a large amount of litter from items left behind or washed into the area.
As our team dove beneath the swim track, we encountered many interesting items — in addition to the usual plastic bottles and tin cans. We found discarded clothing, nappies, fuel jugs, PVC pipes, LED light strips, electrical cables, and even an old cassette tape!
Amidst the trash, we spotted some interesting marine life, like this banded snake eel — an eye-opening reminder of the pressing need to keep our oceans clean for the wildlife that lives there.
After laying out all the trash onshore to separate the plastic from the rest of the waste, it was astonishing to think that just a few hours earlier, all this litter was polluting the ocean floor. It was another powerful reminder that even small clean-up efforts can make a huge difference.
Day 7: Education and Awareness Afternoon
On the final day of Clean Up South Asia week, our marine biologists hosted an education and awareness afternoon with a small group of local children at our marine centre in Naifaru.
While physical clean-ups are important, spreading awareness about the dangers of litter to wildlife is key to preventing it from ending up on our beaches in the first place.
The afternoon involved a presentation on plastic waste, followed by a mini ‘Captain Fanplastic’ session which involves telling the story of Captain Fanplastic and his adventures. We then helped the children become ‘Plastic Pirates’ by making eye patches from recycled ghost nets and plastic bottle caps.
You can read more about our collaboration with Soap Box South Africa to conduct Captain Fanplastic sessions here.
Next, the children created posters to take home and show their families, spreading the word about why waste shouldn’t end up on beaches or in the ocean.
Afterward, we headed to Velaa Beach again for a ‘treasure hunt’ beach clean, and it was inspiring to see how eagerly the children participated, fully engaged in their mission to collect as much waste as possible. One student even found a small plastic toy, that we bleached and washed so he could take it home! This truly reinforced the message that one person’s trash in another person’s treasure.
We find it incredibly inspiring to see children embracing plastic waste awareness. Encouraging children to care about conservation fills us with hope, as they are the next generation of environmental stewards and their enthusiasm sets a powerful example for others to follow.
Now that the week has come to an end, we are very proud of our first ever Clean Up South Asia campaign, and we are excited for the future of this movement as it continues to grow, with more and more participants from across the South Asia region each year. Â
A huge thank you to our partners – Atoll Volunteers, Aqua Dive & Watersports, and our resort partners – Six Senses Kanuhura and Amilla Maldives for helping make these initiatives possible!
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