Resort chain, Soneva has introduced an on-site plastic recycling programme. The "Soneva Maker Programme" is part of Soneva's plan to encourage guests and employees to participate in recycling initiatives, to educate younger guests about how things are made and to emphasise the "Waste-to-Wealth" concept.
Initiated in Soneva Fushi, the programme will see Soneva joining "Precious Plastic", which is a global initiative to increase plastic recycling, by fabricating open source machines from locally available, low cost materials. By joining "Precious Plastic" initiative, which has captured the imagination of people all over the world, Soneva has now become the first company in the Maldives to recycle plastic into new products.
Founder and CEO of Soneva, Sonu Shivdasani stated that the aim of the programme is to change the perception of waste, noting that plastic is precious and that discarded items can be resources for a whole new range of useful products
Soneva has a target of zero waste, and already recycles 90% of its solid waste, with glass, food waste, jungle trimmings and polystyrene all processed on-site. Now the focus is on tackling the last 10%, which includes small amounts of plastic, paper, cloth and Tetra Pak packaging.
The programme will be extended so that Soneva resorts could recycle plastic collected from neighbouring islands, according to Soneva.