Maldives 'rubbish island' turns paradise into dump

The Maldives are an archipelago of 1,192 islands in the Indian Ocean, grouped into 26 atolls. Tourism is the country's most important source of income. The country has a population of 270,000. But last year 650,000 tourists visited the islands, but each of them produces Photograph: Elin Høyland/Elin Høyland

Rubbish is shipped in daily to Thilafushi where it is sorted and sent to different zones around the islands. The authorities turned Thilafushi into a rubbish island at the beginning of the 90s because they could not cope with the ever-growing quantity of trash form tourists Photograph: Elin Høyland

There are different zones around the island for different types of waste. The first delivery of rubbish was in 1992 Photograph: Elin Høyland

Disposing of plastic water bottles is a big problem on the island which was originally seven kilometres long and 200 metres wide. During its early years, pits were dug. But the volume of rubbish became too great to cover over with sand Photograph: Elin Høyland

Souraf from Bangladesh throws rubbish into the sea. The lagoon in the background will eventually be filled with waste Photograph: Elin Høyland

Earthmovers are required to shift the huge volume of waste - some of which is left as landfill or burned. Some of the waste, such as asbestos, is also extremely harmful Photograph: Elin Høyland

Mohamed Chan Mia from Bangladesh burns rubbish on the island where he worked for six years Photograph: Elin Høyland

Some of the waste needs to be disinfected Photograph: Elin Høyland

Souraf (right) and his friend are two of the 150 Bangladeshi men who work at the Thilafushi dump Photograph: Elin Høyland

Around 3,000 people live on the island which has attracted other industries such as boat manufacturing, cement packing and methane bottling Photograph: Elin Høyland

Thilfushi, like most of the islands in the Maldives, lies around only 1m above sea level and is therefore at risk of rising sea levels because of climate change. Toxic heavy metals such as mercury, lead and cadmium are already at risk of leaching out into the sea and damaging marine ecology Photograph: Elin Høyland