Caption

NICARAGUA, Managua Province, Managua, "The 'waste basket of Chureca' has existed since the late 1960's in the Acahualinca district of Managua, Nicaragua. It covers 42 hectares, is bombarded with thousands of tonnes of waste a day and is home to over 170 struggling families. By day over 1500 more Nicaraguans arrive at the site, some of whom are children who have been sent by their parents, others come by their own initiative. All compete with the adults to find, harvest and re-sell recyclable material. Of the minors who go to the waste basket - 88% it has respiratory problems, 62% suffer from parasites and 42% have serious skin diseases. Although the sky is clear and blue the air is thick of burning waste or rotting waste. Little houses or 'casitas' lie in a mixed muddle of rubbish and waste. The houses at the back of shot are made up of an eclectic collection of doors, wooden planks, dustbin bags, hanging bits of ripped tarpaulin, corrugated iron strips and whatever waste material seems to have been lying around. In the foreground lies a make-do shelter, made up of various 'spare' parts such as bits of bicylces, rusting machine parts, cardboard boxes, plastic tubs and jerry cans and rotting matresses. Green bushes and trees surprisingly grow in the muddle of rubbish around the houses. In the foreground and background lie steaming heaps of waste and rubbish. Plastic bags blow around in the air. At the front of shot stands a young boy almost silohetted by the strong afternoon sun. He is a local child dressed in shaggy clothes and a worn baseball cap. To his left hand side sits piles and piles of plastic bottles and what the majority would consider worthless waste. To him however, this steaming pile constitutes the fruits of a long and hard days work. "

Info+

Joe Lasky eye ubiquitous / hutchison

Credit line

Photo12/Eye Ubiquitous

Reference

UQS10A69_461

Model release

No

License type

Rights managed

Available size

51,9Mb (2,2Mb) / 17,4in x 11,6in / 5226 x 3469 (300dpi)

Keywords

NICARAGUA Managua Province Managua The 'waste basket Chureca' has existed since late 1960's Acahualinca district Managua Nicaragua It covers 42 hectares bombarded thousands tonnes waste day home over 170 struggling families day over 1500 more Nicaraguans arrive site some whom children who have been sent their parents others come their own initiative All compete adults find harvest re-sell recyclable material minors who go waste basket 88% it has respiratory problems 62% suffer parasites 42% have serious skin diseases Although sky clear blue air thick burning waste or rotting waste Little houses or 'casitas' lie mixed muddle rubbish waste houses back shot made up an eclectic collection doors wooden planks dustbin bags hanging bits ripped tarpaulin corrugated iron strips whatever waste material seems have been lying around foreground lies make-do shelter made up various 'spare' parts such as bits bicylces rusting machine parts cardboard boxes plastic tubs jerry cans rotting matresses Green bushes trees surprisingly grow muddle rubbish around houses foreground background lie steaming heaps waste rubbish Plastic bags blow around air front shot stands young boy almost silohetted strong afternoon sun He local child dressed shaggy clothes worn baseball cap his left hand side sits piles piles plastic bottles what majority would consider worthless waste him however this steaming pile constitutes fruits long hard days work Environment Central America American Central America Kids Ecology Entorno Environmental Environnement Green Issues Hispanic Latin America Latino"