What a load of rubbish
Tuesday, 9. January 2007, 13:15:50
The Magic Mountain is an absolutely fascinating article from Harper's Magazine about Payatas, a 50 acre dumpsite on the edge of Quezon City in the Phillipines.
The dumpsite recieves 7,000 tons of waste EVERY DAY mostly from Manila, resulting in an enormous man made mountain of rubbish. This mountain made the news in 2000 when monsoon rains caused the mountain to collapse killing hundreds of people. The dumpsite was closed for a short while until rubbish started accumulating in the city streets.
The article focuses on the poor who live in slums around the dump & work as scavengers on the heaps hooking out plastics & metals that can be sold on. The picture of squalour & pollution is an important message that I think people should be aware of.
It is worth bearing in mind that the UK sends 27 million tonnes to landfill sites each year. The catchphrase 'Reduce, reuse, recycle' is of course extremely important but wouldn't be such an issue if everyone didn't buy so much rubbish in the first place.
The dumpsite recieves 7,000 tons of waste EVERY DAY mostly from Manila, resulting in an enormous man made mountain of rubbish. This mountain made the news in 2000 when monsoon rains caused the mountain to collapse killing hundreds of people. The dumpsite was closed for a short while until rubbish started accumulating in the city streets.
The article focuses on the poor who live in slums around the dump & work as scavengers on the heaps hooking out plastics & metals that can be sold on. The picture of squalour & pollution is an important message that I think people should be aware of.
It is worth bearing in mind that the UK sends 27 million tonnes to landfill sites each year. The catchphrase 'Reduce, reuse, recycle' is of course extremely important but wouldn't be such an issue if everyone didn't buy so much rubbish in the first place.
WIDGETIZE
Nix* # 9. January 2007, 14:40
Nuff said really..
wickedlizard # 14. January 2007, 15:10