Mounting waste of ‘rubbish island’ a threat to MaldivesAssignment #1b – Critical Assessment on Environmental Issues

Student: Felicia TanzilModule : Sustainable designLecturer: Franz Gonsales

News articleIslands of Maldives scarcely rise more than 2 meter above sea level, with exception for Thilafushi, which a the ‘rubbish island’ of Maldives.

“Thilafushi is an environmental hazard and has been ruining the brand name of Maldives, if we want to protect our environment, this is the first thing we have to handle” says Ahmed Adeen, Tourism Minister of Maldives.

Thilafushi Island, Maldives

News articleOn the island, hundreds of migrant workers process and burn mountains of trash without safety equipment. The trash burns includes batteries, asbestos, and untreated medical waste. Trash such as plastic bottles, bags, food cans, and others are floating from its shore towards the Indian Ocean, and well as plumes of smoke rising from the burning of trash, creating an air pollution

News articlethe island become the destination of 105 tourist resorts and Male’s waste. Now the amount of trash dumped reach 500 tonnes a day.

The last attempt for Thilafushi clean up was by former president Mohamed Nasheed, by campaigning the climate change threat to Maldives and holding the meeting of Cabinet underwater. He also signed a contract with Indian firm Tatva Renewable Energy to recover energy from trash, however the plan stop in 2012 as Mr Nasheed is in jail for terrorism charge.

Background of Thilafushi island Thilafushi originally was as a lagoon called ‘Thilafalhu’

with a length of 7 km and a width of 200 metres at the shallowest regions.

Thilafushi received its first load of garbage from Malé on the January 7, 1992. Operations started with just 1 landing craft, 4 heavyload trucks, 2 excavators and a single wheel loader

Today Thilafushi has a landmass of more than 4.6 million ft2 (0.43 km²). In November 1997, it was decided that land was to be leased to entrepreneurs interested in acquiring land for industrial purposes.

In 2005 it was estimated that 31,000 truckloads of garbage are transported to Thilafushi annually

background"used batteries, asbestos, lead and other potentially hazardous waste mixed with the municipal solid wastes being put into the water. Although it is a small fraction of the total, these wastes are a source of toxic heavy metals and it is an increasingly serious ecological and health problem in the Maldives". Bluepeace, the main ecological movement of the Maldives, has described the island as a "toxic bomb".

polutionThe trash floating on the water become a problem to the ecosystem.

As the workers burn the waste in the island to maintain and reduce the amount built up, they did not separate the waste. As a result all kind of materials were burn, including plastics, paints, and other material that result in dangerous and harmful smoke that rises up to the air.

The smokes and fumes from burning the waste as well as the industry on that island, create a thermal pollution as well

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Comparison to ganga river, indiaGanga river is said to be the holiest river where everyday thousands of devotees take a bath in it in a ritual that suppose to cleanse sins. The river also provides water for drinking and irrigation to 40 percent of India’s population of 1.25 billion

200 retired army personnel, activists and volunteers are assisting in creating public awareness for keeping the river and its surrounding clear of littering

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Possible solutionKurumba resort in Maldives has spent serious capital to get some advanced machinery to process the waste.

The bottle glass waste are ground down and used in cement, the coconut husks are ground down and used to make ropes and a range of building materials. They also uses the coconut to fuel the bbqs.

Coconut husk

Possible solutionThe green waste Shedder composter which mixes heat+air+bacteria for accelerated decomposition. Material basically broken down in 3 hours and then let sit for 40 days (it was supposed to be 10 days, but experimentation has shown 40 to be ideal for the best soil creation). Going through 1700 kgs of kitchen waste per day.

green waste accelerated composting z

plastic and Styrofoam recycling

Possible solution (zero waste system)

Possible solutionThe material is reuse into another thing, such as leather belt into flooring, or cardboard roll into a retail display. This will minimize the waste and support the zero waste method. Crates can also be reuse as stairs, or feature wall. Plastic bottles can be use as decoration, or green wall design.