Argentina's largest open-air garbage dump

LUJAN, BUENOS AIRES, ARGENTINA - MARCH 1: A general view of the "sacrifice zone", as it is called at the edge of the garbage dump overlooking a lagoon with fauna and vegetation in Lujan, Buenos Aires, Argentina on Friday (March 1).Lujan is home to the largest and oldest open-air dump in Argentina.For 60 years, millions of tonnes of municipal waste have accumulated on 12 hectares without any control.The government of Alberto Fernandez received funding from the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) to build a treatment plant and landfill, but controversy erupted when local residents refused to accept the chosen site.The appearance and pollution of the landfill, which overlooks a lagoon with a rich variety of flora and fauna, has reached alarming proportions as it continues to leak leachate, toxic gases and smoke into the environment, surrounding water tables and lagoons.Recycler Tomas Gustavo Vera spoke to Anadolu that "For us it is just another job, it is just work for us. We know that this is risky, that it is bad for our health. You see the smoke, which does not hurt, but hey, we have to work the same and we have to sustain the money to take home."Former recycler Sergio Almada spoke to Anadolu that "At the end of the 80's and 90's, I worked in the municipality and well, the money wasn't enough for me and we ended up here also looking here to see if we could add something more to it with young children and coming here to work here on a daily basis." (Footage by Pablo Barrera/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)