Baku’s Rubbish Dump From Hell

By Idrak Abbasov

BAKU, Azerbaijan, August 24, 2004 (ENS) - Endless piles of smoking rubbish surround a giant pit filled with fire and smoke. Visibility is less than five meters (16 feet). When an outside visitor comes to the Balakhany rubbish dump, he thinks he has arrived in hell.

The immense dump site sprawling over 30 hectares (74 acres) of land, lies some 12 kilometers (seven miles) from the Azerbaijani capital Baku. Every last cigarette packet and plastic bottle discarded in the three million-strong city ends up here.

Slowly making my way towards the "bottomless pit" in the middle, I ran into some denizens of this hell, armed with pitchforks and rakes. The faces of 13 year old Hasan Abdullayev and his 18 year old brother Istyaq, were covered in soot – making them look like the "demons" the scavengers are often called.

Hasan explained how they use the tools to find scrap metal, which they sell for 100 manats (around five U.S. cents) per kilo. He said their father is ill, and this is their family’s only source of income.

"We don’t steal or bother anyone, we simply collect scrap metal and sell it," he said. Their family moved to Balakhany more than 10 years ago, and the brothers have worked here for most of that time. They do not go to school.

"Why go to school? Is it going to make a scholar out of me?" said Hasan. His mentor on the job was his uncle Maqsud, who is 35. Maqsud used to be an agronomist, but there is no longer any work for agricultural engineers in the area. "He was the first to move here; then we followed, and we’ve been scavenging for scrap metal ever since."

Smoldering rubbish emits a noxious smell that spreads across the region. (Photo credit unknown)

According to Viktor, there is practically no end to what you can find at the dump. "Once I found a brand new leather jacket. It’s very warm; I’ve been wearing it for two winters," he said. Hasan joined in the conversation, saying his uncle Maqsud found a 100 gram gold chain here last year.

Scavengers work the dump in groups of five to 10 people, each specializing in its own type of rubbish - plastics, metals, bottles, or food waste. No one trespasses on others’ territory.

Javid, 26, from Balakhany and his neighbor Elnur, 30, hunt for bottles. Elnur used to be a sculptor but says he has given that up and now earns up to US$300 a month at the dump. "A sculpture can take you five or six months to create, but the money you get barely covers the cigarettes you have smoked while making it."

The scavengers are not afraid of picking up disease. "People sitting in office chairs are the ones who get sick," said Elnur. "I’ve been working here for seven years, and I’ve never even had flu."

Doctors are not so sure. Ismail Ibrahimov of the communal hygiene section of the Municipal Hygiene and Epidemic Control Centre in Baku, said, "Rubbish dumps are extremely dangerous. These people can easily contract salmonella, dysentery, botulism or cholera."

Rubbish piles up faster than it can decompose or be recycled. (Photo credit unknown)

Byakir Muradov, 37, is trying to sell his house and move away. "I didn’t mind the stench when I was on my own, but now I have a wife and kids, and I don’t want them to breathe this fetid air," he said.

Many in Baku fear the Balakhany dump is an environmental disaster waiting to happen. Sabit Huseinov, deputy head of the city’s housing and utilities department, said, "Several companies have approached us about recycling or otherwise using the garbage. The dump is currently serviced by the German-Azeri joint venture UPE, which is also keen to start recycling the trash, but we are still waiting for a solution to this problem."

The dump receives approximately 3,000 cubic meters (3,923 cubic yards) of garbage daily, according to UPE employee Rza Mirzyayev. "Once there was a recycling plant in the area that processed garbage into fertilizer, but it has stood idle since the end of the Soviet Union," he said. "UPE has plans to start a recycling operation."

Mirzyayev said that UPE presses down the rubbish and levels it out with tractors, but never burns it. "It’s these ‘demons’ who set it on fire," he said.

{Idraq Abbasov is a reporter with "Impuls" newspaper in Baku. This report is published in cooperation with the Institute for War and Peace Reporting.}