If you've ever used the phrase "rivers of garbage," what has been happening for three months in one of Indonesia's provinces can be an illustration.
A man rummages through garbage in a garbage jam, Java, Indonesia, Photo: AFP
Residents of a small village on Indonesia's island of Java have been suffering from terrible odors for weeks. The reason: plastic bags with household garbage were thrown down the Sibanten River, which runs through the site, got stuck under a bridge near the river, creating a huge "stopper" of garbage.
"It's been three months since the garbage started piling up," a representative of the local authority told the local news agency Entera. "We received calls from six residents who complained about the harsh smells that only got worse." The place became a sanitary hazard and attracted rodents and flies.
Not surprisingly, passersby on the bridge under which the bags were piled began to see it as a dump, and the hazard began to fill up "from above" as well. "I hope that the district authorities will evacuate everything urgently because in the past such incidents have already caused flooding of the neighborhoods," the representative added.
Rivers of garbage are not uncommon in countries with a revised disposal system. For example, in 2018, a stream of garbage was seen in the Asni River (Ashwani) in Himachal Pradesh in India:
The Asni River in India carries huge amounts of garbage, 2018 | Social Networks
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