Cambodia: Poverty On Smokey Mountain
Informal waste collection systems have many environmental and economic advantages. They reduce the need for landfill and save natural resources while providing an important lifeline for some of the world’s poorest people. In Buenos Aires, informal waste collectors known as “scavengers” recover 9 – 17% of municipal waste, representing an estimated savings for the municipality of $30,000 USD to $70,000 USD each day. Waste scavengers have dramatically shortened life expectancies and many have poor health and living conditions, sometimes working at night without any protective clothing. In Asia, whole communities have developed out of the waste industry and handle up to 75% of urban waste.
- If you live in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, your rubbish is headed to the Stung Meanchey landfill, nicknamed by residents as “Smokey Mountain”. Stung Meanchey opened more than 15 years ago to serve as the city dump and today some 2000 registered workers, including 600 children, work at the site sifting through roughly 700 tons of waste that arrives each day.
The junk yard itself is a jumble of garbage trucks, loud fast moving tractors, workers swinging sharp hook like gaffs, smoke and hoards of bothersome flies. Trucks filled with Phnom Penh’s waste continually arrive at the dump while large tractors criss-cross the site shoveling the slippery flotsam into massive piles consisting of rotting food, clothes, magazines, wilted flowers, and everything else imaginable. Groups of scavengers converge upon the incoming trucks while others scour areas of ash and soot searching for lucrative metal left exposed by continual burn off. Makeshift shelters constructed from tarpaulin and plastic dot the landscape, providing relief from hot sun or soaking rain for workers needing a rest. Children too young to join their parents as scavengers occupy several of these refuges playing with an assorted variety of objects, including dead animals.
One of the major issues relating to Stung Meanchey is the non-attendance of school by the child workers. Since families depend upon even the youngest worker’s incremental income, as little as $.50 USD per day, to sustain them, replacing that income as well as generating the money for school tuition and books is critical. Families are being educated as to the long-term consequences of their children’s lack of education and why they must allow them to attend after receiving money to send them.
A young boy who works as a scavenger runs away from a pile of burning garbage at The Stung Meanchey Landfill in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.
The World Bank states that 35% of Cambodia’s population of around 14 million exists on less than $.50 USD per day. Since an adult who spends 12 hours per day scavenging through this sea of waste may earn as much as 10,000 riels, or the equivalent of $2.50 USD, many workers come to work at Stung Meanchey to escape the crushing poverty and malnourishment found in several areas of rural Cambodia. Their newfound wealth comes with a heavy price however, as they are forced to breathe in heavy air polluted by the constant smolder that generates toxic byproducts, including methane gas, from the flaming heaps of garbage. Scores of workers are seen coughing or sneezing, and most of the youngest children have runny noses, inflamed throats, and watering eyes. Some scavengers sport facial scars from being struck by errant swinging gaffs, while several others have been injured or killed by tractors or garbage trucks whose drivers didn’t notice them. This is the life of some of these hearty souls.
Informal waste collection systems have many environmental and economic advantages. They reduce the need for landfill and save natural resources while providing an important lifeline for some of the world’s poorest people. In Buenos Aires, informal waste collectors known as “scavengers” recover 9 – 17% of municipal waste, representing an estimated savings for the municipality of $30,000 USD to $70,000 USD each day. Waste scavengers have dramatically shortened life expectancies and many have poor health and living conditions, sometimes working at night without any protective clothing. In Asia, whole communities have developed out of the waste industry and handle up to 75% of urban waste.
- If you live in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, your rubbish is headed to the Stung Meanchey landfill, nicknamed by residents as “Smokey Mountain”. Stung Meanchey opened more than 15 years ago to serve as the city dump and today some 2000 registered workers, including 600 children, work at the site sifting through roughly 700 tons of waste that arrives each day.
The junk yard itself is a jumble of garbage trucks, loud fast moving tractors, workers swinging sharp hook like gaffs, smoke and hoards of bothersome flies. Trucks filled with Phnom Penh’s waste continually arrive at the dump while large tractors criss-cross the site shoveling the slippery flotsam into massive piles consisting of rotting food, clothes, magazines, wilted flowers, and everything else imaginable. Groups of scavengers converge upon the incoming trucks while others scour areas of ash and soot searching for lucrative metal left exposed by continual burn off. Makeshift shelters constructed from tarpaulin and plastic dot the landscape, providing relief from hot sun or soaking rain for workers needing a rest. Children too young to join their parents as scavengers occupy several of these refuges playing with an assorted variety of objects, including dead animals.
One of the major issues relating to Stung Meanchey is the non-attendance of school by the child workers. Since families depend upon even the youngest worker’s incremental income, as little as $.50 USD per day, to sustain them, replacing that income as well as generating the money for school tuition and books is critical. Families are being educated as to the long-term consequences of their children’s lack of education and why they must allow them to attend after receiving money to send them.
A young boy who works as a scavenger runs away from a pile of burning garbage at The Stung Meanchey Landfill in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.
The World Bank states that 35% of Cambodia’s population of around 14 million exists on less than $.50 USD per day. Since an adult who spends 12 hours per day scavenging through this sea of waste may earn as much as 10,000 riels, or the equivalent of $2.50 USD, many workers come to work at Stung Meanchey to escape the crushing poverty and malnourishment found in several areas of rural Cambodia. Their newfound wealth comes with a heavy price however, as they are forced to breathe in heavy air polluted by the constant smolder that generates toxic byproducts, including methane gas, from the flaming heaps of garbage. Scores of workers are seen coughing or sneezing, and most of the youngest children have runny noses, inflamed throats, and watering eyes. Some scavengers sport facial scars from being struck by errant swinging gaffs, while several others have been injured or killed by tractors or garbage trucks whose drivers didn’t notice them. This is the life of some of these hearty souls.
A young worker shoulders a heavy load at The Stung Meanchey Landfill in Phnom Penh, Cambodia
A family is gathered on the workfield at The Stung Meanchey Landfill in Phnom Penh Cambodia.
Workers keep at eye out for a fast moving tractor at The Stung Meanchey landfill in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.
Workers at The Stung Meanchey Landfill in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, weigh a sack filled with recyclable plastic.
A young girl has a refreshment to quench her thirst at The Stung Meanchey Landfill in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.
A young boy who works as a scavenger stands neara pile of burning garbage at The Stung Meanchey Landfill in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.
A young worker grasps the gaff he is using to collect soft clear plastic at The Stung Meanchey Landfill in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.
A worker from The Stung Meanchey Landfill in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, cooks a family meal.
A worker shields his face from a pile of burning garbage as another man looks towards Phnom Penh at The Stung Meanchey Landfill in Cambodi
Young boys search for metal objects left exposed in piles of burning garbage at The Stung Meanchey Landfill in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.
Young scavengers have a bit of fun with flashlights at The Stung Meanchey Landfill in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.
A minor wound to the hand of a young girl is immediately landed upon by flies at The Stung Meanchey Landfill in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.
A young girl clutches a found doll at The Stung Meanchey Landfill in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.
A young boy who contributes to his family income by scavenging for recyclable material takes a break at The Stung Meanchey Landfill in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.
Statistics Sources:
The World Bank
Rob Bowden, Waste recycling and reuse: Our impact on the planet, 2003
IOM/UNICEF, Infrome Sobre Trabajo Infantil en la Recuperacion y Reciclaje de Residuos, 2005
Stéphane Kluser, UNEP/GRID-Arendal, 2006
JICA Study on Solid Waste Management in Metropolitan Phnom Penh
John Brown, Photojournalist Cambodia
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Cambodia relies too much on two industries: textile and tourism. These industries are particularly vulnerable to the global economic downturn. We need to focus our resources on our natural strength, which is agriculture, not tourism or textile.
29 April 2009 at 11:09 am