From afar, Chile’s Tiltil landfill almost resembles just another mountain, but the growing rubbish pile has created a daily nightmare of odors, flies and health concerns for residents nearby.<\/p>\n
The site, located around 35 miles (60 kilometers) north of Santiago, is the world’s largest source of human-generated methane emissions, according to the United Nations.<\/p>\n
About 60 percent of the Chilean capital’s waste this century\u00a0— around 18,000 tons per day — has ended up in Tiltil.<\/p>\n
As hungry birds of prey circle above, hundreds of garbage trucks trundle through the town below, leaving trails of rubbish in their wake.<\/p>\n
The decomposing waste generates methane, which scientists say is responsible for at least a quarter of global warming.<\/p>\n
In April, the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) placed the landfill at the top of a list of 50 human-made sites that emit the most methane in the world.<\/p>\n
Thirty-five space satellites helped to detect that it generates some 100,000 metric tons of methane annually.<\/p>\n
Methane gas may be imperceptible, but the garbage that produces it is not — Tiltil’s 17,000 inhabitants have grown increasingly concerned about the health impact of such drastic pollution.<\/p>\n
The smell is “like excrement,” said 68-year-old Patricio Velasquez, who shuts himself inside every summer due to the odor emanating from the dump.<\/p>\n
– ‘Flies in our mouths’ –<\/p>\n
The retired teacher lives less than two miles (around three kilometers) away from the 120-hectare landfill, which is roughly the size of 100 soccer fields.<\/p>\n
“We’re in the countryside. We should be breathing fresh air,” Velasquez said.<\/p>\n
“In the summer we used to take the table outside for lunch, but it got to a point where we couldn’t eat because we had flies in our mouths and on our plates.”<\/p>\n
Methane is not considered toxic, but experts warn of the risks that emissions and air pollution pose to people in the surrounding area.<\/p>\n
High concentrations of methane can cause “episodes of suffocation or headaches,” Yuri Carvajal, president of the environmental department at the Medical College of Chile, told AFP.<\/p>\n
“It’s not that easy” to measure the effects on the population, said Carvajal, who recommended keeping people away from such sites.<\/p>\n
The company KDM has been operating the landfill for 20 years.<\/p>\n
A further 50 industrial sites are located in the area, including cement factories, animal farms and mining storage sites.<\/p>\n
“There are numerous facilities that generate environmental impacts in a vulnerable area,” Caroline Stamm, an associate professor at the Institute of Urban and Territorial Studies at the Catholic University of Santiago, told AFP.<\/p>\n
“It’s a case of environmental injustice,” she said.<\/p>\n
– ‘Santiago’s garbage dump’ –<\/p>\n
Tiltil authorities concede that they have little wiggle room.<\/p>\n
“As a municipality, we do not have the legal authority to arbitrarily prohibit the establishment of new businesses, since in Chile there is freedom to engage in economic activities,” councilor Nelda Gil told AFP.<\/p>\n
AFP contacted KDM and the Chilean government for comment but did not receive a response from either.<\/p>\n
“Cities don’t have a proper waste separation system. Organic trash should be separated and shouldn’t end up in a place like this,” said Carvajal.<\/p>\n
Chile generates an average of 1.1 kilograms of garbage per person per day and recycles just 0.8 percent, according to the environment ministry.<\/p>\n
This figure is lower than the regional average of four percent, according to official figures.<\/p>\n
Painter and Tiltil resident Raquel Carcamo has watched her town become “Santiago’s garbage dump” over the years.<\/p>\n
“They don’t see us as a town. To them we’re just another garbage can,” she said.<\/p>\n
str-axl\/sf\/cc\/des<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"From afar, Chile’s Tiltil landfill almost resembles just another mountain, but the growing rubbish pile has created a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":484142,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[269],"tags":[211765,18,440,211768,19,17,132936,5201,211767,133,211766,4913],"class_list":{"0":"post-484141","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-environment","8":"tag-chilean-capital","9":"tag-eire","10":"tag-environment","11":"tag-garbage-trucks","12":"tag-ie","13":"tag-ireland","14":"tag-landfill","15":"tag-methane-emissions","16":"tag-patricio-velasquez","17":"tag-science","18":"tag-tiltil","19":"tag-united-nations"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/484141","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=484141"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/484141\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/484142"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=484141"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=484141"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=484141"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}