Smelly and contaminated, the world’s open dumps are growing

In the dumps: A scavenger collects recyclable waste from a garbage dump in Denpasar, Bali. Waste is still being wantonly discarded in open dumps all over the world. - AFP photos

Almost 40% of the world’s waste ends up in huge rubbish tips, mostly found near urban populations in poor countries, posing a serious threat to human health and the environment.

From the air, the Mbeubeuss waste dump 19km north of Dakar in Senegal looks innocent enough. Now 45 years old and close to the Atlantic Ocean, it covers 175ha of an old, dried-up lake, is criss-crossed by tracks and roads, and you can see goats grazing and people working.