In 1948, the Freshkills landfill became the first prototype for burying waste in waste sand and clay quarries, and the technology itself was invented by British engineers even before the war. The decision to create Freshkills is made by New York State Health Commissioner William Carrie, who will later propose the first improvement: to sprinkle layers of debris with layers of ash from the adjoining boiler rooms. Ashes, which were considered the same garbage as ordinary household waste, helped to contain the terrible smell of rotting, which was carried by the wind for miles around.

The state leadership considered the project a successful solution to 2 pressing problems at once: using the wetlands of Staten Island for the benefit and unloading old landfills around the city. True, there were timid remarks from biologists and local residents about the strange disappearance of the birds that traditionally lived in those places, but few people paid attention to this: in the 40s, ecology had not yet fallen into the category of global problems. In addition, the project was planned for 20, maximum 25 years, and on the site of Freshkills by the mid-60s, according to the archive of the city planning commission, a microdistrict with residential, recreational and industrial facilities was to grow.

Instead of ambitious plans, the state administration decides to strengthen Freshkills with two factories for repairing landfills: excavators, tractors and bulldozers - docks for unloading garbage barges and several, first wooden, and then reinforced concrete bridges for city garbage trucks. After a while, 3 administrative buildings and a dozen checkpoints appeared: it became more and more difficult to control the expanding economy.

Gradually, packs of stray dogs and cats, as well as traditional landfill dwellers - rats appear on Freshkills. Rodents reproduce so quickly that flocks of hawks, felines and owls are specially moved to the landfill to fight the vectors of the infection. In a surprising way, birds take root in an eternally smoldering toxic dump, and Freshkills becomes a wild bird sanctuary, and rat populations are really declining.

For the first time, Freshkills' management was pondered about the consequences of reckless waste management by the situation in 1987, when tons of medical waste were thrown onto New Jersey beaches. At first, no one understood where the dangerous gift came from, until oceanologists tracked the current in the area of ​​the incident and the culprit of the spoiled beach season was found. It turned out that the mountains of Freshkills rubbish collapsed under their own weight, and debris and toxic filtrate got into the water. The beaches of New Jersey were empty, and the management of the landfill was deciding how to deal with the new problem.

However, no protective screens and embankments could save the Atlantic Ocean from pollution: by the beginning of the 90s, 90% of the total volume of New York State waste was transported to Freshkills; every day 20 barges with a carrying capacity of 650 tons arrived at the landfill. It has been calculated that if the landfill had received waste all day long, then in 1.5 months the Freshkills landfill would have become the highest point on the entire east coast.

The history of the largest landfill in the world ended with the tragedy of September 11, 2001, when the fragments of collapsed skyscrapers were taken to Freshkills, as to the nearest MSW landfill (about a third of the total volume was removed). As it was believed in the New York police, along with parts of the destroyed buildings, the remains of the dead could have ended up in the landfill, so police officers and forensic specialists continued to search the territory of the landfill. All the time spent by all working groups of specialists on searches is equal to 1.7 million hours. Of course, Freshkills administration has decided to suspend waste collection for this time.

So far the body is over 4 000 the dead are considered missing, and in memory of the victims of the terrible tragedy, it was decided to erect a memorial in the future Freshkills Park.

In late 2001, Freshkills announced a competition for a landfill reclamation project sponsored by New York State and local charities. The winner was the architect James Corner, who proposed the idea of ​​creating a huge park on the site of the landfill, 3 times the size of Central Park. The works are designed for 30 years, because only after 20 years the soil will be again suitable for economic activity, but for now there is an exclusion zone around the reclaimed Freshkills.

And if people are not allowed to come here, then the first four-legged inhabitants of the future park have already firmly settled here: to date, biologists have recorded populations of 200 species of birds, mammals, reptiles and amphibians, including ontadras, hares, raccoons, white-tailed deer and others.

According to the project of James Corner, 5 zones will be allocated in the park, with handball and football grounds, tens of kilometers of bike paths. The park will produce the necessary electricity on its own: in 2013, the authorities announced the start of construction of an array of solar panels, which will also provide energy to about 2,000 residential buildings on Staten Island.

For a very long time, the territory of the former Freshkills landfill will remind humanity why it is impossible to just consume without thinking about the consequences. Share the story of the Freshkills landfill, tell as many people as possible - the future of ecology is in our hands!

The territory of the United States was almost not affected by global military conflicts, so the country did not need to spend colossal resources on restoring infrastructure and economic structures, and citizens did not need to think about the survival of their families.

Thus, the New World becomes an ideal platform for creating and implementing an economic model of growing consumption: every year more and more goods appear on store shelves, and more and more various waste in American trash cans. It soon becomes clear that the old landfills are no longer able to cope with the ever-increasing traffic, so in 1948, a MSW landfill was created in Staten Island with the telling name Freshkills (fresh - fresh, new, unspoiled; to kill - kill, kill). And although the landfill was conceived as a temporary measure, over the 50 years of its existence, it has grown to 2,200 acres (890 hectares), and among the people the landfill has received the nickname "the dirtiest place on earth."

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According to research carried out by the United Nations, developed countries generate more than 50 million tons of "electronic" waste every year. However, only 25% of this volume of waste is recycled in accordance with environmental requirements. And it is quite possible that another 50 million tons of electronic waste is produced by less developed countries.

All this garbage under various pretexts is taken out of the habitat of the "golden billion". The cost of dumping hazardous waste in an industrialized country can be up to $ 5,000 per ton, and when exported to one of the African countries, the price can be about $ 10 per ton. This is approximately 1/1000 of the cost of recycling waste in any industrialized country.

Above is one of Peter Hugo's photos. Below is the world's largest dump of electronics, which formed near the settlement of Agbogbloshi, in Ghana. Recycling E-garbage annually in Ghana from 100 to 250 million dollars. The landfill itself employs 20 thousand people, another 200 thousand people are in one way or another connected with the processing of technological waste (family members of miners, security guards, resellers, logistics, corrupt officials, etc.)

And four others, no less interesting.


Agbogbloshi in Accra is a workplace for several thousand local residents who are trying to find the right parts among the waste. From completely faulty devices, they try to extract non-ferrous metals by burning, as a result of which tons of toxins are released into the atmosphere.

The sun never peeps through here: it is always hidden by leaden clouds of acrid smoke that corrodes the lungs. Bonfires are constantly burning throughout the landfill - local residents burn components, cables and other electronic waste on them, so that after the plastic is burned, then they can collect copper, lead and other metals that are used in the production of electronics. This "gathering" helps them survive - having collected enough metal, you can hand it over to the receptionists and buy some food.

The average wage of people working in a landfill for 12 hours a day is about $ 2 per working day.

The Agbogbloshi e-dump is not an indication that Africa is using electronic devices at a rapid pace. This is a testament to the exorbitant greed of large European and American companies. This practice is in flagrant violation of the Basel Convention, which prohibits the importation of toxic waste into developing countries.

Garbage exporters bypass international law - they import out-of-date electronic devices under the guise of humanitarian aid for the computerization of schools, universities, hospitals, etc. After this "help" has crossed the border, it is simply brought in trucks and dumped in a heap. On which then local specialists crawl, choosing something that survived.

Yet it is considered the largest in the entire globe. It is located in the North Pacific Ocean. The main waste taken out here is plastic. The area of ​​this giant landfill is about 6 thousand square kilometers. The toxins released by decomposing waste poison both animals and humans. Basically, marine life, among which there are a lot of mammals: whales and dolphins, suffer from the overgrown landfill. The archipelago in the region of the Hawaiian Islands, where garbage is dumped, is incompatible with the life of living organisms. Nevertheless, a large number of people come to the islands who want to find something useful there. For many of them, this is the only source of income.

New landfill, New York, USA

Once upon a time in this largest metropolis there was an old giant landfill where wastes were taken from all over the city. In 2001, the old landfill was closed and a new one was opened in its place in the same year.

13 thousand tons of waste is dumped every day at this huge landfill. The New York dump even has its own local attractions, for example, a huge mountain of garbage 25 meters high. There are not as many vagabonds in this junkyard as there are in Grye.

Puente Hills, Los Angeles, USA

8000 tons of garbage per day and several thousand trucks of garbage every day. Quite a lot for the city of angels and the sun, given, for example, that neighboring Canada has the largest landfill in terms of area half the size of Puente Hills in Los Angeles.

Collective landfills UK

Although the British are worried about the huge amount of garbage in their landfills, they have not yet been able to cope with this problem. Only one The UK throws out twice as much garbage as all the countries in the eurozone combined , although Britain is far from the first place in terms of population.

Peter Hugo is a self-taught photographer, born in 1976 in Johannesburg. Documents social issues around the world, with a special focus on Africa and other developing countries. Below is a photo of him in Agbogbloshi (Ghana) :

David Acore, 18 years old

According to the 1989 Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and Their Disposal, which 170 countries have ratified, developed countries must notify developing countries of the import of toxic waste.

Our needs for new smartphones, tablets, laptops and TVs are growing every year. Along with them, the amount of e-waste is growing. According to the UN, every year the world's population throws out about 50 million tons of various electronics. It is too expensive to recycle, so exporting waste to third world countries has become a lucrative business. Photographer Kevin McElvaney traveled to the outskirts of the capital of Ghana, where locals, risking their own health, from dawn to dusk work on one of the largest industrial dumps in the world

Kevin McElvaney
Photographer

“Not far from Accra, the capital of Ghana, is a wetland called Agbogbloshi. Rivers wind around it, which then flow into the Atlantic Ocean. Before you enter the burning fields of Agbogbloshi, you will notice a large market. One part of it sells cheap fruits and vegetables, the other entirely consists of traders of various scrap metal. Take a closer look - and you will see men sitting on broken TVs, who ceaselessly knock with hammers on spare parts from cars, household appliances and electronic devices. The horizon is clouded with giant clouds of smoke and tongues of red flame. Most of the local residents of Agbogbloshi are children and adolescents between 7 and 25 years old. They start working before dark and finish at nightfall. At this point, I took the pictures that you will see below. 40,000 settlers call it Sodom and Gomorrah. "

Agbogbloshi is the largest electronics dump in the world

Every year, about 200,000 tons of such waste is brought here. Mainly from Western Europe and USA

Trash is often imported under the guise of used electronics that don't actually work.

Residents of Agbogblosh mine rare metals from broken equipment. Copper and aluminum are especially prized

Copper is mined by burning. Therefore, bonfires are constantly burning in Agbogbloshi.

The main workforce is boys aged 10 to 18

They can earn up to 10 Ghanaian cedis per day, which is approximately $ 3.5.

Every year in the world there are more and more worn out and discarded car tires, and this danger is much more real than some hypothetical meteorite. The fact is that many countries do not closely monitor their citizens, who prefer to simply throw used tires in a landfill. In Kuwait, such a landfill has become one of the most serious problems. Sulabia is so large that it can be seen not only from the windows of a flying plane, but even from space.

The Sulabiya old tire cemetery gradually expanded into a vast area of ​​600,000 m2. It is located not far from Kuwait - imagine if such a dump were arranged right in the suburbs. Rumor has it that more than twelve million tires have already accumulated here: used tires not only from all over Kuwait, but also from Pakistan, India and Malaysia are thrown into the landfill.

Business on rubber

All of the aforementioned countries strictly prohibit citizens from dumping rubber on such a scale. However, it remains good business for the top five local companies, whose CEOs are willing to take risks for the big bucks. Collecting tires at certain points, they take them to Sulabiya under cover of night.

Worldwide ban

In all civilized countries, a ban on the disposal of tires not only exists, but also works in practice. In Europe, since 2006, you can get a real term for organizing a landfill of this kind, but in Kuwait, money decides everything.

Civilized recycling

In the same Europe, they try to deal with the used tires wisely. They are used to make coatings for playgrounds and treadmills, put them on car mats and process them into rubber boots and even new tires. In addition, old rubber can be used to strengthen dirt roads and dams - but in Kuwait, you know, there are no dams.

Burning ban

Naturally, burning of tires is also prohibited, although this seems to be the simplest way to solve the problem. The fact is that at high temperatures, burning tires enrich the air with such nasty things as arsenic, benzene, dioxins and carbon monoxide - little joy for the inhabitants of the surrounding cities. Sulabia, on the other hand, burns quite often, and each time it looks like a real ecological disaster.

Big rubber fire

On April 7, 2012, the largest fire occurred in Sulabiya. More than a thousand firefighters and military personnel from Kuwait tried to pacify the fire. It took them a month to put out the fire. Ten million burning tires marked the Sulabiya landfill with a column of black smoke that poisoned the air in the capital, Kuwait. Has anything changed after the fire? Not at all. Tires are still brought here and thrown away by residents of four countries.

We present to your attention the 10 largest garbage sites on Earth.

Xinfeng Landfill, Guangzhou, China (92 ha)

More than 10 million people live in Guangzhou. Every day, 8,000 tons of waste is generated in the city and ends up in the Xinfeng landfill. It was built by the French (Veolia company), being temporary users of the landfill. This landfill is the largest in Asia, with $ 100 million allocated for its construction. The waste incineration plant at Xinfeng recycles about 2,000 tons of waste per day, producing biogas and electricity. Half of the energy received is taken by Veolia, while the other half is used for the needs of the city.

Express info by country

The Earth is in third place in terms of distance from the Sun and in fifth among all planets in the solar system in terms of size.

Age- 4.54 billion years

Average radius - 6,378.2 km

Middle circle - 40,030.2 km

Square- 510,072 million km² (29.1% land and 70.9% water)

Number of continents- 6: Eurasia, Africa, North America, South America, Australia and Antarctica

Number of oceans- 4: Atlantic, Pacific, Indian, Arctic

Population- 7.3 billion people (50.4% men and 49.6% women)

The most densely populated states: Monaco (18,678 people / km 2), Singapore (7607 people / km 2) and the Vatican (1,914 people / km 2)

Countries: total 252, independent 195

Number of languages ​​in the world- about 6,000

Number of official languages- 95; the most common: English (56 countries), French (29 countries) and Arabic (24 countries)

Number of nationalities- about 2,000

Climatic zones: equatorial, tropical, temperate and arctic (main) + subequatorial, subtropical and subarctic (transitional)

DumpWest New Territories,Hong Kong(110 ha)

By 2014, the huge city began to produce 15 thousand tons of waste. More than half of them end up in West New Territories. The landfill is operated by the French company Suez Environment, which produces gas and electricity here.

Landfill Deonar, Mumbai, India (132 ha)

India produces about 60 million tons of waste per year. Of these, 2.7 million tons are in Mumbai. The Deonar landfill is the oldest in the country; it recycles 8,000 tons of waste every day. 5.5 thousand go to this landfill, which is designed for only 2 thousand tons. Now the mountains of garbage reach 30 meters, and the methane accumulated there caused a large-scale fire in early 2016.

Landfill New Delhi, India (202 ha)

Residents of New Delhi produce about 9 thousand tons of garbage every day. All waste is transported to landfills Narela Bawana, Bhalswa, Okhla and Ghazipur, covering a total area of ​​128 hectares. All landfills, except for Narela Bawana, are very old and have not fulfilled their purpose for a long time. The height of the rubble mountains on them is about 40 m. Despite this, they continue to work. In 2013, an area of ​​74 hectares was allocated on the outskirts of the city to accommodate an additional landfill. In India today, 20% of methane is extracted from garbage. According to experts, if New Delhi could recycle all the waste, it would generate about 25 megawatts of electricity.

Landfill Sudokwon, Incheon, South Korea (231 ha)

The landfill was established in 1992 and receives 20 thousand tons of garbage from Seoul every day. It produces 50 megawatts of electricity. Thanks to the energy received, the landfill carries out desalination of water, restoration of soil fertility. There is even a museum, 200 employees work, more than 700 thousand trees have been planted at the dump. This landfill is an example of the correct use of waste.

Landfill Puente Hills, Los Angeles, California, USA (255 ha)

The landfill operated for 30 years, received 130 million tons of waste during this time, becoming the largest landfill. In 2013, it was closed for modernization until 2015. Now Puente Hills accepts up to 132 thousand tons of garbage daily. There is a plant for its incineration, as well as a power plant that generates 50 megawatts of electricity. This is enough for the life of 70 thousand homes in Southern California. Interestingly, most of the landfill will become a recreation park in the near future.

Landfill Malagrotta, Rome, Italy (275 ha)

The landfill has a capacity of up to 60 million tons. In the late 70s, it was an illegal place for the disposal of waste, but in 1984 it was legalized. They also get electricity and biofuel from waste. But over the previous, illegal years of use, the landfill caused colossal damage to the ecology of the Galeria Valley - by polluting the air and poisoning the soil with arsenic, mercury and ammonia.

Landfill Laogang, Shanghai, China (336 ha)

It is the largest landfill in Asia with a height of 20 meters of garbage. It receives up to 10 thousand tons of garbage every day. 102 megawatts of energy are obtained from it, which provides 100 thousand homes. The same Veolia manages the landfill.

Landfill Bordo Poniente, Mexico City, Mexico (375 ha)

This is the largest landfill in Latin America, receiving about 15 thousand tons of waste every day. After its closure in 2011, more than 1.5 thousand families who chose recyclable materials there for delivery to processors lost their illegal income. In 2014, the Mexican government announced plans to build a plant on the site of Bordo Poniente to generate 60 megawatts of energy. But so far, the plan has not been implemented, and mountains of garbage are being dumped near Mexico City.

Landfill Apex Regional, Las Vegas, Nevada, USA (890 ha)

This landfill is the leader, having a huge size and recycling 9 thousand tons of waste daily, although it is designed for all 15 thousand tons. The landfill is managed by Republic Services. Apex Regional has a 250-year operational potential. There is a processing plant that generates 11 MW of electricity to meet the needs of 10,000 homes in southern Nevada. The project cost $ 35 million. Of all the garbage, 17.7% of the total amount of methane in the United States is obtained here.