As China’s economy grows, so do mounds of garbage
Visitors can smell this village long before they see it.In less than five years, the Zhengzhou Comprehensive Waste Treatment Landfill has overwhelmed this otherwise pristine village of about 1,000 people.
Peaches and cherries rot on trees, infested with insect life drawn by the smell. Fields lie unharvested, contaminated by toxic muck.
Every day, another 100 or so tons of garbage arrive from nearby Zhengzhou, a provincial capital of 8 million.
“Life here went from heaven to hell in an instant,” says lifelong resident Wang Xiuhua, swatting away clouds of mosquitoes and flies.
The 78-year-old woman suddenly coughs uncontrollably and says the landfill gases inflame her bronchitis.
