Raw Photos Of Landfills Show The Extreme Amount Of Waste Humans Produce
Where does all the trash go after you take it to the dumpster? The reality depicted in the images here showcase the current state of waste management, and how the items we discard are piling up all over the world.
An aerial view of the Aleksinsky Karyer solid waste landfill in the town of Klin, Russia, in 2018.
Thousands of diplomats and activists are currently convening in Glasgow to discuss the worsening climate crisis at the 26th United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP26). Sustainability, pollution, and mitigation will be covered, and with that, this felt like a good time to look at all the things that go to waste.
1,825 pounds of trash per year: That's how much the average American produces, according to statistics by the Environmental Protection Agency, which tracks facts and figures of municipal solid waste. According to the agency’s findings, food and paper top the rankings for types of waste going into landfills.
Another big piece of the trash equation is plastic. Just last year, the US shipped about 1.4 billion pounds of plastic trash overseas. And according to a new report by the Bennington College, Vermont-based project Beyond Plastic, plastic production is quickly becoming a major source of greenhouse gas emissions. “If plastic were a country, it would be the world’s fifth largest greenhouse gas emitter, beating out all but China, the US, India and Russia,” the report states.
America certainly isn't the only culprit when it comes to overconsumption and needing new solutions to waste management, as these photos show the handling of waste in a variety of ways around the globe.
Batches of outside mattress material are seen at Oakland's DR3 Mattress Recycling Center in Oakland, California, in 2016.
An aerial view of the tire graveyard, which threatens the environment and human health due to the dangerous components and durability of the material, located 160 kilometers away from the capital Kuwait City in al Salmi area, Kuwait, in August 2021.
The Kuwaiti government is seeking a solution to getting rid of disposed tires that have been accumulating for about 20 years.
A waste picker walks with a load of recyclable waste on her head in the Mbeubeuss rubbish dump in Dakar in July 2021.
A view of tons of garbage in a trash pit on April 2, 2021, in San Francisco.
Old cellular phone components are discarded inside a workshop in the township of Guiyu in China's southern Guangdong province in June 2015.
Aerial view of a garbage dump near Yellow River in Jiyang county, Ji'nan city, east China's Shandong province, in July 2019.
The son of a garbage collector rests as his father (not pictured) looks for items that can be resold at a landfill site in Alue Liem in Lhokseumawe in September 2021.
Close-up of crushed recycled scrap metal bales at a dump in Canada in 2015.
A Venezuelan migrant searches a rubbish dump for clothes for her and her children in the Alto Hospicio area, on the outskirts of Iquique, Chile, in September 2021.
Bicycles and bicycle parts are pictured in a landfill in Saitama on Oct. 11, 2021.
Pieces of dinnerware that did not meet standards for retail sale or recycling in a landfill on the grounds of the Fiesta Tableware Co. factory in Newell, West Virginia, in July 2021.
A truck dumping garbage at the Yadrovo solid waste landfill in the village of Yadrovo. On March 21, 2018, 77 schoolchildren sought medical care following an outburst of gas from the landfill.
Recycled milk cartons are viewed at the Sims Municipal Recycling Facility, an 11-acre recycling center on the Brooklyn waterfront in 2015 in New York City.
A public landfill out in the desert where the garbage is burned in Marsa Matruh, Egypt, in January 2020.
Disposed medical waste lies on the floor of a landfill site during the coronavirus pandemic in New Delhi, India, on July 4, 2020.
Domestic refuse being unloaded from a truck at the Arpley Landfill Site in Cheshire, United Kingdom in 2018.
Birds fly near garbage collected from an area that used to be a landfill and will be diverted into a green park in Zakho, district of Dohuk, Iraq, in January 2020.
Guatemalan garbage collectors search for recyclable rubbish to make their living at the Municipal Sanitary Landfill, the largest dump site in the country, in Guatemala City in October 2017.
A garbage collector at Okhla landfill picking up trash for a living amidst severe odor on Oct. 11, 2017, in New Delhi, India.
Garbage piled up on the banks of the Beirut River, which had been turned into a temporary garbage dump, collapses in October 2015.
Destroyed weapons are pictured in April 2013 at a landfill near Lille in northern France.
A young boy is seen searching for recyclables at the Tirabichi garbage dump in 2013 in Nogales, Mexico. About 30 families live at the landfill, searching for recyclables to sell for a living.
SKM, a recycling company in Melbourne, has been declared bankrupt, and its six major warehouses are full of recyclable materials awaiting processing in August 2019.
Image of heavy machinery working to extinguish the fire at Zaldibar landfill on Feb. 21, 2020, in Pais Vasco, Spain.
Smoke rises from burning rubbish at a landfill site on the artificial island of Thilafushi in 2019 near Male, Maldives.
Additional reporting by Zahra Hirji.
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Contact Kirsten Chilstrom at kirsten.chilstrom@buzzfeed.com.
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