Landfills. Sort of....

Tupiza, Bolivia Landfill

Here in Tupiza, like many other Municipalities, refuse is taken to the local dump where it is....well, dumped. Just dumped. In the States, the EPA and other environmental governing agencies require landfills to apply a cover after each day of adding garbage. It is called Alternative Daily Cover (ADC) and it usually comprises of dirt, wood chips, industrial plastic scrap, even organics sometimes. The cover is meant to stop the escape of methane, and of course rouge flying plastics among other things.

In South America, I have yet to see a covered landfill. In this example, trash blows off the landfill every time the wind blows and debris can be found miles away form the landfill.
It makes one wonder why bother to collect garbage and bring it to a central location if it is bound to blow back into the surrounding landscape anyway? I often times find myself disgusted by the amount of litter in South America, but seeing such landfills makes me realize that sometimes throwing the item in the trash bin isn´t much better.

These folks are picking out the PET and stuffing it in SuperSaks. They were also picking out some clothing items. Unfortunately they declined to speak with me so I am not sure where they sell the PET and for what price. It was incredibly difficult to walk anywhere near this landfill as the flies and smells were overpowering. I have been around a lot of garbage and have certainly sorted through my fare share of trash and compost but I have a powerful respect for the people pictured above.

Tilcara, Argentina Landfill

No litter pickers at this landfill in Argentina. I have yet to see any plastics recycling efforts in the Northern part of the country. I assume it is the lack of any nearby market/buyer.
This landfill is in a river basin. When the water rises, it also picks up the plastics and other debris that has blow off this uncovered landfill. Again, it makes one wonder...what is the point of collection here? I saw a lot of glass here as it is one of the items that won´t blow or float away.