Mounting waste of rubbish

island a threat to Maldives

Assignment #1b Critical Assessment on Environmental Issues
Student: Felicia Tanzil
Module : Sustainable design
Lecturer: Franz Gonsales

Thilafushi Island, Maldives

News article
Islands 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.

News article
On 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 article
the island become the destination of 105 tourist resorts and Males
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 Mal 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 km). 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".

polution
The 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

pictures

pictures

Comparison to
ganga river, india
Ganga 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 Indias 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

Click icon to add picture

Possible solution
Kurumba 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 solution
The 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.

plastic and Styrofoam recycling

green waste accelerated composting z

Possible solution (zero waste

system)

Possible solution
The 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.