Nigel Dickinson

From the series Smokey mountain

Smokey Mountain rubbish dump, at Steung Mean Chey, started as a landfill site sixty years ago, and is now part of Phnom Penh, Cambodia; the grey cloud of acrid smoke exuding from constantly burning garbage gives it its nickname. There are more than 2,000 casual workers, including some 600 children, who scavenge across the dumpsite, collecting plastic bags, metal, plastics, and paper which are then sorted, cleaned, weighed, and sold for recycling. People work, eat, and sleep amidst the rubbish and constant fumes, their strenuous labor earns them about $1 per day. Waste pickers even work night-shifts using miner’s lamps to illuminate their way. It is a place notorious for pollution, crime, and disease; medical waste is a constant hazard.