Thilafushi explained: the Maldives’ industrial island

Thilafushi sits in Kaafu Atoll, on the same reef chain as Malé, between the islands of Giraavaru and Gulhifalhu. It is long and narrow, roughly 3.5 km from end to end and only a couple of hundred metres wide in places. Seen from a plane landing at Velana International Airport, it is the grey strip with sheds, cranes and smoke stacks to the west of the capital.

It has two roles that grew up side by side:

• Waste. It has received rubbish from Malé, nearby islands and resorts for more than 30 years, and is home to the regional waste management facility for the Greater Malé area.
• Industry. Land on the island is leased for boatyards, warehouses, cement packing, gas bottling and storage, and other heavy work that has no room in crowded Malé.

People work on Thilafushi, but it is not a residential island in the way Hulhumalé is.

By the late 1980s Malé had a serious problem. The capital was filling up, tourism was growing fast (see a short history of tourism in the Maldives), and there was nowhere left on the island to put rubbish.

The answer was a lagoon to the west called Thilafalhu, a shallow ring of reef with no island on it. The decision to use it as a landfill was made in December 1991, and the first boatloads of waste from Malé arrived in early 1992. The method was simple: dig pits in the sand of the lagoon, fill them with rubbish, cover them with building rubble and level them with sand. Slowly, rubbish became land.

From 1997 the government began leasing plots of the new land to businesses, and Thilafushi changed from a tip into an industrial zone. Over the years more land was reclaimed next to it for heavy industry. The island kept growing for the same reason it was created: the rubbish kept arriving.

For many years Thilafushi was described in foreign media as “rubbish island”, and the reasons were real.

• Open dumping. For much of its history, mixed waste was simply piled up and burned in the open. Smoke from the fires could be seen from Malé, the airport and nearby resorts.
• Hazardous material. Local environmental campaigners warned that batteries, asbestos, lead and other hazardous waste were mixed in with household rubbish, with a risk of toxins reaching the sea.
• Rubbish in the water. Liquid seeping from the dump (leachate) and loose plastic polluted the surrounding lagoon and reef. In late 2011 waste drifting out to sea from the island became bad enough that the transport of rubbish to Thilafushi was temporarily halted.
• Scale. The volume has grown with the population and with tourism. The Asian Development Bank (ADB) puts the waste generated across Greater Malé, 32 inhabited outer islands and 86 resorts at more than 800 tonnes a day.

What made Thilafushi stand out was the setting: a country famous for clean water and reefs, with a smouldering tip in sight of its capital.

The big change is the Greater Malé Environmental Improvement and Waste Management Project. It started in 2018 and is backed by the Maldivian government with funding from the ADB, the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, the Islamic Development Bank and Japanese grant funds. The state-owned Waste Management Corporation (WAMCO) runs collection and the Thilafushi site.

Fires brought under control

According to the ADB, the fires and smoke at Thilafushi stopped from August 2021, helped by better site management. Waste is now sorted and baled rather than simply burned in heaps. This is a big improvement, but the ADB itself says a long-term solution is still needed. There have been setbacks: a later fire at the facility forced part of the site to close for a time.

The waste-to-energy plant

The centrepiece is a waste-to-energy (WtE) plant at Thilafushi. Under the published plans:

• It will burn around 500 tonnes of waste a day on two lines of 250 tonnes each.
• It will generate electricity, with the government quoting about 13 MW.
• It will come with pollution control, a lined landfill for ash and residues, and the clean-up of the old dumpsite.
• The ADB describes it as the first large-scale waste treatment facility in the Maldives.

Timelines have slipped more than once. Earlier targets of 2024 and 2025 passed. In March 2025 the Ministry of Tourism and Environment said the waste-to-energy phase was expected by late 2026, and the ADB lists the overall project’s completion date as March 2027.

Other parts of the plan include new transfer stations on Thilafushi and in Hulhumalé, a demolition waste plant and better collection for outer islands.

Not everyone agrees

Some Maldivian environmental groups oppose large-scale burning. They argue that incineration discourages recycling and reduction, and they call for more effort on cutting waste at source. It is a debate you will also find in many other countries.

The bridge

The Thilamalé bridge is being built to link Malé with Villimalé, Gulhifalhu and Thilafushi by road. Its opening has also been pushed back; the latest government target is the end of 2027.

No, and there is no reason to try. Thilafushi is a working industrial and waste site with heavy machinery, trucks and boats moving all day. There are no visitor facilities, no beach, and no tours. You will see it from the air when landing, and sometimes from a boat travelling west of Malé, and that is all most people need.

If you want to understand how the Maldives works, there are better ways to spend your time: walk around Malé, take the ferry to Villimalé, or stay on a local island and watch everyday life.

Every plastic bottle and snack wrapper a visitor leaves behind has to go somewhere. In the Malé area, that somewhere has long been Thilafushi. Space is tight everywhere, and nothing simply disappears.

Tourism is a big part of the load. Resorts, guesthouses, boats and the airport all produce rubbish, and much of what visitors use is imported in packaging. So what you bring, buy and throw away matters more here than in most places.

Small habits add up on a small island. A few that make a real difference:

• Bring a refillable bottle. Many guesthouses and cafés offer filtered water refills. Ask on arrival.
• Say no to extra plastic. Carry a cloth bag for shopping and skip straws and single-use cups.
• Take batteries and electronics home. Small islands have very limited ways to deal with hazardous waste.
• Choose reef-friendly sunscreen and use a rash vest. You will need less cream and put less of it in the water.
• Leave nothing on beaches and sandbanks. Take your rubbish back with you, and pick up a piece or two of plastic if you can.
• Don’t buy or collect coral, shells or turtle products. Many need a permit to leave the country, and it harms the reef.
• Support local clean-ups. Many islands organise beach and reef clean-ups. Ask where you stay if one is planned.

On a local island like Dhiffushi, about 37 km north-east of Malé, you will see how tight space is: the whole island is a short walk from end to end, and every bit of waste has to be managed by the community. Our local island etiquette guide has practical tips. For the wider picture, read our guide to responsible travel in the Maldives and coral reefs of the Maldives.