A Day's Work On Delhi's Mountain Of Trash
It's almost as tall as the Taj Mahal. It smolders and festers. And it's a source of income for slum dwellers nearby.
The first thing you notice, approaching the Ghazipur landfill, is a pack of emaciated feral dogs. Some of them are coughing.
That, and the stench — a putrid mix of rot, burning plastic and a dead animal somewhere close.
From afar, it looks like an arid plateau on the outskirts of India's capital. But this mountain isn't made of earth. It's made of trash.
It bakes in 100-degree summertime heat, emitting fumes and oozing toxins into the groundwater. At 20 stories high, and growing, than the Taj Mahal. (The Ghazipur mound is 213 feet; the Taj is 240 feet high.) Two years ago, a landslide of soggy garbage .
