Overview of the Baa Atoll Transfer Station
Waste in the Maldives
The Maldives is a true paradise on earth. However, this island state has a waste management issue. Every product and material that is brought to the Maldives will end up as waste in this beautiful island state if we are not careful. Currently local islands do not have the means to tackle their generated waste. Resulting in piles of plastics, nappies, organics, metals and other waste.
On a national scale, there is a system of collecting solid waste from some islands to Thilafushi, also known as rubbish island. However, this is far from ideal: still a lot of trash ends up in the vulnerable marine environment. When it does arrive in Thilafushi, organics and in-organics end up on the same pile and combust. Big smoke plumes go straight up in the air, just a few kilometers from the capital city Male’.
Baa Atoll Transfer Station
What the country is lacking, is a regional solution. A place where solid waste from the atoll can be collected, and processed further. This is exactly what Gordon Jackson, Waste to Wealth Manager at Soneva Fushi proposes in Baa atoll: a regional waste transfer station; the Baa Atoll Transfer Station (BATS).
The BATS is a proposal for a local island within Baa atoll. A collection site for segregated, processed waste from thirteen islands with the goal of recycling as much as possible. A focus lies on up-cycling both organics and inorganics: from Waste to Wealth.
Organics can be processed into compost. Metals, plastics and other materials are collected from other islands and gathered in the BATS.