The import, production, and release to the market of prepared beverages packaged in plastic bottles smaller than 250ml have been prohibited in the Maldives starting today.

This ban was enacted following an amendment made by President Dr. Mohamed Muizzu to the decree outlining the list of environmentally harmful single-use plastic products.

Introduced in consultation with the Ministry of Climate Change, Environment and Energy, this change modifies the plastic bottle size previously specified under item 14 of the list from 500 milliliters to 250 milliliters. Consequently, the sale and import of prepared beverages, excluding water, packaged in plastic bottles smaller than 250ml are now banned.

These amendments are detailed in Decree No. 15/2026, which has now been published in the Maldivian Government Gazette, amending the previously enforced Decree No. 35/2025.

The revised decree also updates the timelines for single-use plastic straws. The deadline prohibiting the import of plastic drinking straws has been deferred from June 1, 2021, to June 1, 2031, while the domestic production and market release ban has been extended from December 19, 2022, to December 19, 2031.

Furthermore, timelines under item 13 concerning plastic water bottles have been modified. The import and production ban for water packaged in plastic bottles ranging from 500 milliliters up to 1 liter has been deferred to December 1, 2029, with the market release ban scheduled for June 1, 2030.