Informal waste pickers in New Delhi, like Sofia Begum, endure harsh working conditions at landfill sites where temperatures reach extreme highs. Begum, who has worked at the Ghazipur landfill for over 25 years, has experienced health problems, including an eye infection from medical waste. The city's landfill sites, overfilled and dangerous, contribute to public health risks through toxic fires and methane leaks. These conditions impact the livelihoods of thousands living near the waste dumps, creating a long-term environmental and health crisis.
"My right eye swells up in the heat, so I stopped going to the landfill last year," says Sofia Begum, who has been scavenging at Delhi's Ghazipur landfill for over 25 years.
As temperatures in Delhi soared as high as 49 degrees Celsius in June, rubbish sites at Ghazipur, Bhalswa and Okhla became environmental ticking time bombs.
Choking with rubbish and filled beyond capacity, these towering waste mountains have become hubs for toxic fires, methane leaks and an unbearable stench.
It's a slow-burning public health threat that blights the lives of the tens of thousands of people who live in the shadow of these rubbish heaps.
Collection
[
|
...
]