MOPA signs an MOU with K. Himmafushi Island Council and International Beverages Company Pvt Ltd.

• K. Himmafushi Island Council, International Beverages Company Pvt Ltd, the producers of Life water bottles, and MOPA have agreed to work together to facilitate the PET bottles collection for recycling from the island of Himmafushi.
• All parties will be working to implement and execute the services in the Island towards the
• mutually respected sustainable development goal and have ambition to further expand the project to handle all types of single use plastics.

MOPA and K. Himmafushi Council and International Beverages Company Pvt Ltd (IBC) have signed a Memorandum of Understanding to work towards the mutual goal to combat ocean plastics. Mr. Thoriq Ibrahim, President & Co-Founder of MOPA, Mr. Hassan Faiz , the President of K.Himmafushi Council and Mr. Ali Ihusan, the CEO of IBC signed the MoU on Thursday, 31 March 2022.

Immediately following the signing of the MoUs, the Island PET Collection Project at K.Himmafushi was inaugurated when the first few bags of PET bottles collected from the island fromthe outlets were put on the pickup truck by Mr. Thoriq Ibrahim, President & Co-Founder of MOPA, Mr. Hassan Faiz , the President of K. Himmafushi Council and Mr. Ali Ihusan, the CEO of IBC by the President of Island Council. The event held in Himmafushi was attended by the members of Island Council, officials of MOPA and senior officials of IBC. The project initially will involve daily collection of used plastic bottles from all outlets such as shops/cafes, guests houses, Asseyri Prison and other institutes in the island and the collected plastics will be brought to Male for recycling on a regular basis.

“I would like to thank Kaafu Himmafushi Council and the IBC for their collective efforts in joining hands with MOPA which is critical in managing plastic waste responsibly and efficiently. The success of our Plastic Reverse Logistics Project is testament to why enlisting the help of customers and business partners can go a long way in effectively repurposing the growing single-use plastic waste in the Maldives,” says Thoriq Ibrahim, MOPA Founder and President.

Mr. Hassan Faiz , the President of K. Himmafushi Island Council in his remarks highlight waste collection and management as one of the most critical work the council have to perform on a daily basis.

“We assure our full support in implementing and continuing this project as we understand the importance of the cause of the MOPA PET collection program. We also believe that it lifts the waste management effort to a next level in Himmafushi and that with the proper handling of the thrown away PET bottles, we will have potential to promote Himmafushi as a tourist attraction with clean beaches free from plastics”– Mr. Hassan Faiz , the President of K. Himmafushi Council.

Commenting on the partnership with MOPA and Himmafushi Island Council for the PET Collection Project in Himmafushi, Ali Ihusan, CEO of International Beverages Company Pvt. Ltd said: “As a plastic bottle producer and as part of our key social responsibility, we believe in finding sustainable mechanism to address the plastics issues as we do care about our environment. We also strongly believe in responsible handling of the plastics and this is why we continue to support MOPA in its projects to sustainably address the issue of thrown away PET bottles in the community and we believe Himmafushi could easily become a model island for many others to learn from and to expand this solution”

In this project MOPA will utilize its expertise with existing partners to extend their resources and manpower to organize, facilitate, collect and transport the PET plastic waste from café, restaurants, guesthouses and other outlets for recycling and repurposing. In order to support the island council, MOPA will be providing the replaceable collection net bags to café / restaurants, guesthouses and other allocated outlets on the Island for the collection of PET plastic and implementing waste bins at selected locations for PET collection. Similarly, IBC as a key partner in this project will provide their support by facilitating manpower to collect and transport the used PET bottles from the sites to the depot identified and from the depot to Malé City.

About Maldives Ocean Plastics Alliance (MOPA)

MOPA is a not-for-profit, non-governmental organization formed with the stated objective of pooling resources, forging partnerships, engaging stakeholders, and empowering communities to repurpose single-use plastics in the Maldives safely.

MOPA has also implemented PET reverse logistics program in greater Male, covering over 260 food outlets. MOPA Island PET collection project has been implemented in K.Thulusdhoo and Dh.Kudahuvadhoo. MOPA also brings PET bottles consumed from multiple resorts through its Resort PET collection program. MOPA with its partners have collected over 49 tonnes of plastics in the past year for recycling.