Maldives: Cleaning up Paradise

Alison Teal stands amongst the garbage on the island.
Alison Teal dresses in the plastic bottles she cleans up in the Maldives. Sarah Lee photos Alison Teal’s Mission in the Maldives

It’s Time for Mountains of Trash in the Maldives to go

By Erica Garnett

Pink surfboard in hand, wearing plastic bottles and tarp as fashion, Alison Teal trekked through the wreckage on a Maldivian island during her second stay there.

Teal’s first trip to the Maldives was in 2013 for the popular Discovery Channel reality show, “Naked and Afraid.” The island chosen for her and a partner to jointly survive on for twenty-one days was dubbed “The Island From Hell.” Teal was distraught not of the challenge to survive but the state of the land. It was covered in plastic water bottles and styrofoam.

Teal said, “We used it to survive on the show but I couldn’t walk anywhere without stepping on trash and more washed up everyday.” The garbage was eventually used by Teal and her partner to build a raft that they paddled to their planned rescue at the end of the show. Amidst the survival for her own life at the Maldives, Alison Teal encountered her and her partner’s survivals were not the only ones at risk. This was not the end for Teal.

Surf, Survive, Sustain

As an eco-travel enthusiast, soul survivor and adventurist, Teal felt compelled to return and give back to the island that allowed her to survive. A year later in August 2014, Teal returned in the hopes of implementing her mission, “Surf, Survive, Sustain.”

The mission strives to educate and raise awareness about living a noninvasive existence as an environmentally responsible individual while inspiring others to do the same.

While there, Alison spent time relinquishing in the natural hospitality that the islands have to give in the most eco-friendly ways. As an avid surfer, she strives to protect the world’s oceans which involves as much appreciation as prevention.

She surfed on Lohis Break off the island of Hudhuranfushi with her “Green to the Core” pink surfboard and Odina bikini, both made from recycled plastics and plant matters. She explains, “I want to explore this picturesque place as well as feature what is happening to it.”

AlisonsAdventures Maldives 01
Alison walks along Trash Mountain with her surfboard and bag full of plastic bottles.

Teal’s Eco-Travel Tips

Her wardrobe she packed mainly consisted of her Odina pink bikini and shirt, both made out of ten recycled plastic bottles, board shorts by the brand Roxy, made out of seven recycled plastic bottles, Zeal sunglasses made out of recycled materials and a handmade coconut hat.
Teal remarks that chemicals in normal sunscreen can kill a tropical reef and affect a person’s health. Instead, opt for all-natural brands such as All Good elemental herbs sunscreen and Sierra Madre coconut cream. Her toothbrush was the Preserve and made out of recycled yogurt containers.

To keep her energy up after spending long days cleaning up the beach, Alison suggests taking a HydroFlask reusable water bottle, Navitas cacao nibs and power snacks, Kind power bars and kept them all in Blue Avocado eco zip snack packs.

Alison swims with a manta ray in the biosphere Baa Atoll
Alison swims with a manta ray in the biosphere, Baa Atoll.

When it comes to eating, Teal emphasizes keeping it local whether going to a restaurant that supports local farms, attending a farmers market, or even catching your own food.

If there is a coconut tree around, Teal is most likely climbing it, in order to retrieve what is considered the tree of life in most tropical cultures. She says, “The water in a coconut is like a natural Gatorade and the meet is some of the best natural food energy in the world.”

Opting for Eco-Friendly Lodging

Not living off of the land this time, though her preference when traveling, Teal recommends the two eco-friendly travel hotels she stayed in being, the Park Hyatt Maldives Hadahaa and the Dust Thani Maldives. According to Teal, make sure to ask the resort about their eco policies and communicate that it is a priority to you as the guest.

The two hotels are participants in EarthCheck, a program that measures the property’s impact on factors such as environment, community, cultural-heritage and the local economy.

The Dusit Thani Maldives is also one of several resorts that provides accommodations to the local biosphere, Baa Atoll, on the island Mudhdhoo, a place where Alison visited during her time there.

Protecting the Wildlife

The biosphere is a UNESCO declared world biosphere reserve and place where conservation, research and development successfully coincide to ensure the preservation and protection of the environment and species that inhabit it. The organization refers to the biosphere as having, “great potential for demonstrating sustainable development throughout the Maldives and the region, while relying on a green economy.”

The reserve contains some of the richest waters in the Maldives. They provide a space for manta rays and whale sharks to roam in a protected slice of the preserve, away from the massive amounts of trash and ocean pollution.

Situated in the Indian Ocean off the coast of India, the 1,200 islands that comprise the Maldives are the poster children of topical paradise with white sand, crystal clear water and palm trees. Of the 200 inhabited islands, 99 contain resorts that host approximately 750,000 tourists that flock to the islands annually for its tempting features. With each visitor generating a little under eight pounds of waster per day, this boost to the economy leaves the local government with extraneous amounts of trash to dispose of.

Alison displays her dissaproval at all of the plastic bottles in the water.
Alison displays her dissaproval at all of the plastic bottles in the water.

Trash Island

The most viable solution to this problem was to use some of the islands for landfills. Another spot visited by Teal on her trip was “Trash Island”, also known as Thilafushi, a few miles away from the capital city, Male. Thilafushi is an artificial island which receives 300 to 400 tons of trash each day from the rest of the country. Littered with plastic, paper, electronic devices, and various other garbage, some is left to rot and other is burned, releasing toxic fumes, polluting the air.

Alison is helped by a village boy cleaning up the beach.
Alison is helped by a village boy cleaning up the beach.

The landfill itself causes severe amounts of asbestos and other toxins, poisoning the ocean and land as well. The the President of the Maldives banned the dumping of waste two years prior to Teal’s trip in the summer of 2012, stating, “If carbon emissions continue at the rate they are climbing, my country will
Erica Garnett is an intern at GoNOMAD Travel. She is a student at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, pursuing a doublr major in Journalism and Anthropology.

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