Birds scavenge at Robinson Deep landfill in Johannesburg, South Africa.
Photographer: Gulshan Khan/AFP via Getty Images
The World’s 2-Billion-Ton Trash Problem Just Got More Alarming
- One by one, developing countries are refusing to import trash
- Here are the ways the world is trying to deal with its waste
The stench of curdled milk wafted from a shipping container of waste at Malaysia’s Port Klang as Environment Minister Yeo Bee Yin told a group of journalists in May she would send the maggot-infested rubbish back where it came from.
Yeo was voicing a concern that has spread across Southeast Asia, fueling a media storm over the dumping of rich countries’ unwanted waste. About 5.8 million tons of trash was exported between January and November last year, led by shipments from the U.S., Japan and Germany, according to Greenpeace.