Bandos Maldives discontinues plastic straw use

Bandos Maldives has announced its decision to discontinue the use of plastic drinking straws.

As part of the decision made to mark Earth Day on April 22, Bandos will discontinue the use of single-use, plastic drinking straws with immediate effect. Guests will instead be served drinks without any straws; if they request for a straw, biodegradable straws will be used instead of plastic.

“… join with us in this worldwide movement and commit to skipping the straw which is only a small step that will go a long way in protecting our species,” an announcement by the resort read.

“Thank you for your cooperation in this initiative to save our environment.”

The switch away from plastic straws is the latest initiative by Bandos to lighten its environmental impact.

Bandos has introduced glass bottles to phase out single use plastic water bottles. Guests are now offered bottled water in reusable glass bottles, and the water is produced at the island’s own drinking water facility.

While plastic is one of the most defining inventions of our time, its negative environmental impact is undeniable. Globally, 300 million tons of plastic are produced on an annual basis and around 8.8 million tons are dumped into the oceans.

The throwaway nature of single-use, seemingly harmless plastic straws are actually one of the top two polluters of the ocean, and each straw takes up to 500 years to decompose. The total number of plastic straws used daily is so large that no global usage figure exists, but Americans alone use 500 million straws daily, according to the National Park Service.

Located in North Male Atoll and accessible by a short 10-minute speedboat ride from the main Velana International Airport, Bandos features spacious rooms with balconies overlooking the garden, beach or the ocean.