Michael Christopher Brown Landfill, locals pick through trash that has been illegally dumped outside Gramacho. On the outskirts of Rio de Janeiro, nestled along Guanabara Bay, Gramacho used to be one of the world's largest
(...) open-air landfills. The landfill, known as Jardim Gramacho or Gramacho Gardens, is piled almost 300 feet high across 14 million square feet -- the equivalent of 244 American football fields. Built in the late 1970s, it received close to 8,000 tons of trash daily, 70% of all the trash in the Rio metro area. Through 300 wells, fuel is captured and drained to a treatment station built locally. Then, clean and dry biogas is transmitted by a 6km pipeline to a Petrobras refinery. This project, designed in an environmental control and recovery basis, was registered at the United Nations as a Clean Development Mechanism. Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. June 18, 2014. (c) Michael Christopher Brown/Magnum Photos for UNEP © Michael Christopher Brown | Magnum Photos
