Fuvahmulah City is home to one of our most comprehensive waste segregation projects to date. The goal: improve how the island collects, sorts, and manages its waste, from household bins all the way to the Island Waste Management Centre (IWMC).
Starting with Data
Before recommending any changes, we ran waste audits and training sessions with WAMCO staff, the City Council, and the public. Training of trainers equipped WAMCO staff to keep carrying out audits after our involvement ends, so the improvements outlast the project itself.
Setting a Local Standard
Using that audit data, we worked with the community to draft the island’s first waste segregation standards, validated through a public workshop before endorsement by the council and WAMCO.
Awareness at Every Level
Alongside the technical work, the project ran door-to-door awareness sessions, school programmes, and informational billboards, plus a joint awareness campaign with other Small Grants Programme recipients.
Closing the Loop
The project also looked at what happens after collection: improving segregation and storage at the IWMC, and piloting new waste-to-wealth ideas, including a Community Sharing Rack designed to disrupt the idea of a community bin entirely.
This project was supported by the UNDP Small Grants Programme. Read the full project breakdown on our Projects page.