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Life in a Cambodian rubbish dump

Workers at the Anlong Pi landfill near Siem Reap live and breathe toxic chemicals on a daily basis.

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Two residents of the Anlong Pi rubbish dump in Siem Reap prepare their dinner. Meat is rare in their daily meals. Often small children hunt mice using slingshots, and for special occasions, residents buy stray dogs to kill and consume from nearby villages for $10.
By Omar Havana
Published On 23 Oct 2013

Anlong Pi, Cambodia – Just a few dozen kilometres away from the world-famous Angkor temples, about 300 people have lived for the last three years in a rapidly expanding rubbish dump – fighting the daily realities of extreme poverty.

Since 2010, the situation in the Anlong Pi dump has worsened. An exponential increase in trash discarded in Siem Reap doubled the capacity of the landfill, resulting in harmful chemical and biological reactions between organic and inorganic compounds.

These toxic bi-products are washed away by rainwater, contaminating soil and groundwater, or emitted into the atmosphere after being burned in the form of gases polluting the air. Over the past two years, workers at Along Pi have begun setting ablaze large areas of waste in order to make space for new rubbish.

The combination of these factors has made the air increasingly dangerous for the health of the Anlong Pi residents, who breathe in toxic fumes on a daily basis.

The deterioration of air quality is just one of several factors that have gradually made life in Anlong Pi unsuitable for any human being. In recent months, visits by tourists to the dump have increased considerably, turning extreme poverty into a tourist attraction without considering the psychological impact of these visits for the inhabitants of Anlong Pi.

Two women play with some leaves at the end of their daily work. Only a few families live permanently in the dump.
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A resident works at night time with the help of a head torch. The people who live there suffer from health problems due to toxic air particles.
Residents who live at the dump work during the night with headlamps.
A young girl walks among tonnes of waste while holding a teddy bear that she found while digging through rubbish. More than 100 children work every day in Anlong Pi.
A young scavenger searches for recyclable goods while surrounded by toxic smoke. The landfill has doubled its size in the past two years, and the resulting toxic products are washed by rainwater, contaminating soil and groundwater.
Young scavengers search for recyclable material amid tonnes of waste. Of the 300 people working in the Anlong Pi dump, more than 100 are children.
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A girl reads a book that she found in the waste. Despite help provided by local organisations to inhabitants of Anlong Pi, education levels are low, with only a few knowing how to read and write.
Workers at the Anlong Pi dump collect recyclable material from a pile of waste.
Scavengers work in circles slashing trash, a dangerous process as people use picks in close proximity to each other.
With the accumulation of rubbish over the last three years, the low weight of children allows them to search in the middle of the landfill where tonnes of waste is piled over water.
A man takes a nap during the hottest hour of the day at his home in the landfill. The scavengers use hammocks as beds where they rest before continuing their search for plastic, metal and copper.
A group of workers start their search for recyclable material directly from the rubbish truck. A kilogramme of trash is only worth a few cents.