Jakarta faces huge waste crisis as garbage mountains rise

Bekasi, Indonesia

SIFTING through a mountain of garbage with her bare hands, a thick cloth wrapped around her face to keep out the stench, Patimah recalled her early days scavenging at a dump on the outskirts of the Indonesian capital the size of 120 football fields.

"I vomited back then," she told AFP while wading through knee-deep waste, swatting away flies as she hunted for plastic bottles amid food scraps and soiled clothing.

But now Patimah, who like many Indonesians goes by one name, said the smell no longer bothers her: "I am used to it."

The same cannot be said for people living nearby, who are increasingly angry at the odours wa…