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Nina Bogataj -16 and Maj Rozman -17
Post count: 0TOXIC BOMOB IN THE OCEAN, MALDIVES – THILAFUSHI
Thilafushi is an island created as a civil landfill situated to the west of Malé, and is located between Kaafu Atoll’s Giraavaru and Gulhifalhu of the Maldives.Thilafushi was originally a lagoon called ‘Thilafalhu’, with a length of 7 km and a width of 200 metres at the shallowest regions, situated a few kilometers from Male. In the beginning, Thilafushi was a lagoon composed of shallow coral reefs. In 1992, the Malé government decided to use the barrier island as the final destination for the enormous waste produced by their growing tourism industry. “Rubbish Island” as it was called, began receiving visitors in the form of massive refuse freighters, garbage excavators and migrant workers paid to handle the trash. Landslides of wastesubsid into the sea and at ground level, the air is thick with dust. The country dumps upwards of 330 tons of rubbish on the island every day. Each visitor generates 3,5 kg of waste per day. But most attention has been turned on the environmental damage. Large amounts of asbestos, lead and other toxic metal have been dumped into the lagoon.
