An increasing threat to the fragility of the reefs of the Maldives is the presence of plastic in the ocean. Whilst this is lethal to marine flora and fauna, and to the ecosystem as a whole, in the capital Malé alone, residents use over 280,000 plastic water bottles daily. President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih launched a campaign in December 2018 to minimize single-use plastics, what more could we do to reduce plastic consumption and waste?

- Encourage water filtration. - Water bottling companies should buy back empty bottles for re-use and should be mandatory for all bottling companies. - Shift to glass bottles instead of plastic. - Completely ban the use of plastic shopping bags. This is something we all could achieve.

How many plastic bags are disposed every day? What about other hazardous materials and chemicals? It is not only the plastic bottles that we need to worry about; we have to consider the disposal of items such as polythene packets and bags, especially "supari" packets, chemical agents, bottled shampoo and liquid shower gel, dustbin bags, and more importantly the biodegradable bags that are polluting the ocean. Biodegradable bags turn into micro-pieces when they are dumped into the sea. It easily becomes food for fish and other marine life. This is a huge issue and world needs to address it soon.

Starting to manage the waste will be the solution, many marine vessels use plastic bottles that end up in the ocean. Every day Thilafushi island is burning toxic chemicals. So, it is we who has got to manage the waste we produce. We can try to promote eco-friendly ways, simple things like promoting water filters and the use of glass bottles to store water. Now there are water filters which produce water from the atmosphere, and to face off single use plastic. We can also ban single use plastic like bags and straws. In some islands, they have already banned plastic bags. And to be honest, Maldives is polluted at a level that it has never been before. Together we have to work for climate justice in the Maldives.

- Increase investment substantially in alternative materials, sustainable waste disposal methods and technologies. - Minimize production and importation of single-use plastics. - If reductions are not brought to the supply of single-use plastics, no amount of clean-ups and recycling can make a significant difference

The amount of bottles Malé residents use would be much more than 280,000 a day. Think about the number of plastic bags, which are more dangerous than bottles.

A vast amount of plastic waste can be reduced by junk food producers globally. In addition, in terms of Maldives, we can avoid buying products packed in plastic, which will of course be challenging. However, we already have a similar case - there are no suppliers who could cater with a second option for plastic bottles and shopping bags. We were able to initiate and tag "Single use plastic banned on Bodufolhudhoo island" but, since a second option is unavailable, we are compelled to still use it. The major problems contributing the issue is our fragile Environment been abused by politicians in their power struggle. Business tycoons think they can elope somewhere else in the universe with the wealth they made here by destroying our homes for profit.