TIME.CO, Jakarta – Waste island it is a final landfill for waste at sea. The waste island was also created as a waste management site. This place is deliberately used and organized in such a way as to accommodate thousands of waste items every day.
However, there are also “waste islands” that accidentally form in between Ocean. The waste collection is carried by the current and trapped by the movement of the current which forms a vortex. Summarized from various sources, here are the 4 largest waste islands in the world:
1.Yumenoshima Waste Island (Japan)
Yumenoshima is a desert island transformed into a metropolitan city. Summarized by nautilus.org, Yumenoshima has been developed into recreational areas such as tropical gardens, greenhouses, golf courses and swimming pools.
Yumenoshima Island is an artificial island built from millions of tons of Tokyo’s household waste. This island was created to overcome the lack of land for landfills, as well as to reduce the volume of waste in landfills in Tokyo Bay.
Increasing population growth in Tokyo has caused waste to accumulate in landfills, including on Yumenoshima Garbage Island. This condition even caused a fly epidemic in the 1960s. Therefore, most of Yumenoshima was burned in June 1970 to control the epidemic.
2. Thilafushi Island (Maldives)
Thilafushi is the only landfill site in the Maldives. Summarized by savethewater.org, Thilafushi is located near the country’s capital, Malé, and collects more than 330 tons of waste daily.
The use of Thilafushi Island as a landfill began in 1991. At that time, Thilafushi Island was established to solve the waste problem in Male. However, poor waste management and the increasing number of visitors to the country have resulted in piles of rubbish piling up.
Over time, the Maldivian government has made improvements to Thilafushi Island. Quoted from Who,int, have implemented a sustainable waste management strategy by launching the Greater Malé Waste to Energy project in 2021. This step makes the waste treatment system on Thilafushi Island more environmentally friendly. Currently the artificial island, which extends over 124 hectares, stores millions of waste which increases every year.
3. Semakau Island (Singapore)
If Thilafushi is in the Maldives, then Semakau Island is in Singapore. Reporting from gaiadiscovery-com, Semakau Landfill and Semakau Waste Island are located approximately 4 kilometers south of Singapore. The island has an area of approximately 3.5 square kilometers and is set up in such a way for waste management.
In its early days, Semakau Island was home to subsistence fishermen who lived in huts on stilts. It was then taken over by the Singapore government in 1987 and turned into a reclamation waste repository. Pulau Semakau was built starting in 1995 and used in 1999, then surprisingly containing Singapore’s waste until 2045.
Semakau is currently an abandoned island with sophisticated facilities and management techniques. This is the name of a landfill that coexists with marine ecosystems and coastal habitats. This area is also a place where marine biota lives, such as mangroves, seaweed, coral reefs, crabs, starfish, sponges, shrimp and other interesting plants. Additionally, Pulau Semakau is home to Singapore’s largest barramundi fish farm.
4. Large Pacific Garbage Patch (Pacific Ocean)
The Great Pacific Garbage Patch is a collection of waste in the North Pacific Ocean with an area of 1.6 million square kilometers. Quoted from rhinoplas.co.id, The Great Pacific Garbage Patch contains millions of hard-to-decompose plastic waste, forming an island called Floating garbage island.
The Great Pacific Garbage Patch was accidentally discovered by Captain Charles Moore in 1997. Cited by national-geographical-education-org, The Great Pacific Garbage Patch extends from the waters of the west coast of North America to Japan. This waste island is home to millions of waste items trapped by gyres, where warm water from the South Pacific meets cold water from the Arctic.
The accumulation of waste in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch is also caused by the North Pacific Subtropical Gyre. This condition is formed by four currents consisting of the California Current, the Northern Equatorial Current, the Kuroshio Current and the North Pacific Current. The current then rotates clockwise over an area of 20 million square kilometers, thus dragging waste to the center of the vortex which tends to be calm and stable.
Garbage collection in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch occurs in the form of small pieces or so-called microplastics. As well as large items, such as fishing tackle, nets and shoes.
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