This combo photo shows a garbage dump in Beijing's Fangshan District. (Photo/Beijing Times)
(ECNS) -- A valley near a scenic spot in Beijing's Fangshan District has been the location of an authorized garbage dump for three years, the Beijing Times reported.
The garbage dump, about the size of a football field and with a height of more than 50 meters, occupies the majority of the valley near the Jiangjuntuo scenic area in Hebei Township, 45 kilometers away from downtown Beijing.
Villagers said they saw trucks arrive daily at the site to dump garbage, but nobody had ever come to clean it out. They were worried it could damage the local environment.
"Every summer mosquitoes and flies are rampant and garbages are blown about when there is strong wind. The air is full of unpleasant odors," said a villager.
The garbage dump is high because there is no waste processing plant and nobody takes care of it after the garbage is dumped," according to another villager.
However, an environmental official surnamed Zhang, with the Fangshan district government, told the paper that the garbage dump was a temporary site for collecting rubbish from Hebei township.
Usually, the waste would be transferred to a nearby garbage treatment plant on a regular basis, but the work was delayed due to concerns over the safety of sanitary workers, as recent rainstorms and torrential floods had potentially made roads unsafe, Zhang explained.
The garbage would be properly treated after the roads were safe again, she said.
Established in 1998, Jiangjuntuo is a 112-hectare all-natural scenic spot, a wonderland of plants, animals and birds.
