Thilafushi - An island full of trash

The Maldives, a chain of 19 island groups, are located southwestern of India and Sri Lanka in the Indian Ocean. About 2’000 coral islands form the 19 atolls, 200 of them are inhabited. The tropical paradise mainly lives from the tourism. About 800’000 tourists are visiting the Maldives every year. These huge masses of tourists produce lots of garbage. According to official data, every visitor generates 3.5 kilograms daily, the 394’000 Maldivians leave 1.2 kilograms per head and day. The problem hereby is, that the Maldives don’t have a proper waste incinerating plant. All the trash goes to one place which is called “Thilafushi”. This actually means "shallow lagoon". Much more fitting, however, would be: "Island of garbage". Because Thilafushi is the hell in the middle of paradise. The island was once a turquoise blue lagoon in the Indian Ocean, until the government decided in the 1990s to unload most of the country's garbage. An island of trash grew up. And every day more tons are added: tires, plastic bags, sun cream tubes from the tourists, tuna cans, truck batteries, old flip flops and much more. Most of them are immediately burned, almost unsorted. Choking, white smoke lies all day over the island. Meanwhile, the garbage mountains on Thilafushi belong to the highest heights of the island kingdom. Foreign workers from Bangladesh burrow through the remnants to separate recyclable metal and glass from the rest. "Anyone who is new gets skin rashes," says Mohammed Mokul Hussein. But the 38-year-old has been living on the garbage island for eight years and has become accustomed to it.

The impacts of Thilafushi as the world's largest trash island are catastrophic to the environment. Only a small fraction of the waste is sorted and poisonous pollutants get into the global cycles. Lead, cadmium or mercury are washed out and reaches the food chain via fishes. If the plastic waste is combusted, toxic gases are polluting the air.

So if you ever travel to the island paradise, please keep the (plastic) waste as low as possible and take empty tubes of sun cream or shower gels, for example, back home. Only if the tourists pay attention to the environment, the island paradise can (hopefully) be enjoyed for a long time.

Sources:

-http://www.malediven.biz/wirtschaft.html

-https://www.welt.de/vermischtes/article131144033/Im-tuerkisblauen-Wasser-eine-Insel-aus-Muell.html

-https://motherboard.vice.com/de/article/plastikmuell-auf-den-malediven-346

Pictures:

-http://globalmagazin.com/blog/thilafushi-die-muellinsel-der-malediven/

-https://500px.com/photo/119150975/thilafushi-maldives-the-garbage-reclaimed-island-by-ibrahim-asad