The new Sustainability Lab is a hub of eco-education, the Sustainability Lab will turn plastic waste into bespoke souvenirs and unique products, educate guests and empower local communities. With the launch of the Sustainability Lab project, Fairmont Maldives aspire to be as close to zero waste as they can using current and future technology improvements to allow them to find better ways to reduce, reuse, recycle and upcycle our waste, whilst inspiring others globally to help secure a better future for our oceans and communities.
Specialised machinery in the Sustainability Lab will transform and repurpose plastic waste into beautiful bespoke souvenirs, including luggage tags in the shape of turtles, mantas and sharks. After plastic has been collected from the beach, reef, and ocean, they are separated alongside glass and aluminium, before a series of machines are used to shred, melt, shape and press it into various products – an extruder melts plastic into moulds to create unique shapes, a sheet press will make custom designed furniture and low-grade plastic, glass and sand will be transformed into recycled plastic building bricks.
Minister Aminath Shauna (Maldives’ Minister of Environment), Minister Mariya Ahmed Didi (Maldives’ Minister of Defence), and Ms. Sabra Ibrahim Noordeen (Maldives’ Special Envoy for Climate Change) were present during the ribbon-cutting ceremony held last 3rd February 2022.
