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The Dandora landfill smolders near Kenya’s capital, Nairobi, and it is one of the biggest dumps on the entire African continent. Every day, some 2,500 tons of garbage are brought in.
Thousands of people live around the site, and rely on it for food and other necessities.
Trash-pickers, some of whom are only children, negotiate mountains of smoking, steaming garbage. They’re looking for anything that might be sold or put to use.
It’s a grim existence, and one that comes at a cost.
A study by the United Nations Environment Program found that over half the children living near the dump had respiratory diseases.
Tuberculosis, chronic bronchitis and asthma are rampant in the area.
Almost a third of the children studied were experiencing poisoning from high levels of mercury, lead, cadmium and copper.
And poorly regulated dumping at Dandora poses risks to the environment as well.
It’s a toxic site that only grows larger and more toxic every day.
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