“Fasgandu” – Laying the Groundwork to Reimagining Waste
In early 2020, just before the onset of the global COVID-19 lockdown, I began working remotely with Emmenge on a project commissioned by the Maldives’ Ministry of Environment. The objective was to develop a communication and behavioural change strategy to support the implementation of the national Integrated Waste Management System (IWMS), in partnership with the World Bank.
The project brought together a team of Maldivian creatives and researchers to design and implement a communication framework that could be applied across the country’s geographically dispersed and socially diverse island communities. Over the course of nearly a year, we conducted extensive research, conceptual development, stakeholder workshops, and trial activities to create an adaptable strategy rooted in local realities. Our aim was not only to increase awareness but also to build the structures necessary for community participation, self-efficacy, and inter-island collaboration.
It became clear early on that information alone would not lead to sustained behavioural change. What was needed was a more holistic communication infrastructure—one that could build transparency, visibility, and accountability within the IWMS and encourage every stakeholder to understand their role in the waste management system. This required a culturally grounded campaign that could engage communities emotionally and practically, while also fostering ownership and shared responsibility at individual, community, regional, and national levels.
This led to the development of the Fasgandu Campaign—a multi-phase strategy designed to enable local agency and build a shared communication platform across the Maldives. In the following entries, I will walk through the slides presented as part of the communication strategy, explaining the logic, research insights, and objectives behind each element of the campaign design.
The conceptual foundation of the strategy was informed by the quote “waste is an ironic testimonial to a desire to forget,” articulated by scholar Myra J. Hird in her 2012 article “Knowing Waste: Towards an Inhuman Epistemology.” Hird reframes waste not merely as a material by-product but as a cultural and psychological phenomenon—linked to forgetting, estrangement, and the erosion of environmental responsibility. This perspective challenged us to see waste management not only as a logistical or environmental issue but as a deeper social and symbolic one, shaped by habits, memory, and the loss of intergenerational knowledge. In response, we developed a strategy that sought to reconnect communities with memory and meaning. By engaging both younger and older generations, and drawing on their respective knowledge, skills, and lived experiences, the strategy aimed to foster collective agency, cultural relevance, and community-driven cooperation. The following slides illustrate how this conceptual framing informed the structure, storytelling, and tools of the communication strategy.
This presentation traces how, over time, human societies have become increasingly disconnected from the sources of what we consume and the waste we produce. Historically, waste was part of a visible, natural cycle—consumed close to its source and returned to the environment in ways that supported future growth. But modern industrial and urban systems have obscured both the origin of products and the mechanisms of waste disposal, distancing us physically and psychologically from the consequences of our consumption.
The Narrow View Model – shows how consumer capitalism has narrowed our peripheral view, cutting off our awareness of production sources and waste disposal systems. This allows mass consumption to continue unchallenged while severing ties to tradition, nature, and responsibility.
The Expanded View Model – proposes that the solution lies in widening our peripheral awareness. This means making visible every stage of a product’s life—where it comes from, how it’s packaged, how it’s used, and where it ends up. Only by re-integrating waste and origin into everyday experience can individuals and communities act with empathy and accountability..
A central theme in this presentation is the role of memory—how forgetting traditional knowledge and severing ties to the past has enabled unsustainable consumer habits. To address this, we must reconnect with both local knowledge systems and intergenerational memory, integrating them into education, design, and local waste systems that are transparent and close to home.
Ultimately, this presentation advocates for a visible, participatory, and memory-based model of environmental responsibility—one that begins at the household level, draws from the past, and builds toward a more resilient, aware, and connected future.