Narrator: For almost two decades, this man has climbed a mountain of trash. He scavenges for anything he can sell or bring to his family. Narrator: Rasidin and thousands of others are one of the main ways trash
gets sorted, sold, reused, and sometimes recycled here in Indonesia. Many, like Indhan, used to be rice farmers but found they can make
twice as much picking trash. Narrator: So, what's it
like for the thousands of Indonesians who live off
of other people's garbage? And how did this informal
recycling industry become such a risky business? The Bantar Gebang landfill near Jakarta is the size of 200 football fields. It's one of the largest in the world. Around 6,000 people live
in slums at its base. Indhan has been living here for two years. At first, he was afraid to eat the food he collected from the mountain. But now ... Narrator: A few houses away ... Narrator: Rasidin is getting
ready to go out for the day. Narrator: 1,300 trucks
arrive here every day, mostly from Indonesia's capital, Jakarta. People doing this work
call themselves "pemulung," which translates to "scavenger." They work independently
but need permission from the government to enter the landfill. The biggest dangers on the
job are the excavators. They are owned and operated by the Jakarta provincial government. They move the trash around so that this mountain doesn't collapse. Dani Kurniawan has been operating
one of them for 18 years. Narrator: Rasidin had a close call once. Narrator: But he continues
to work near them because they usually operate
where new trash arrives. Narrator: Recycling facilities
mostly take bottles, cardboard, and metal. But local artisans will pay good money for bones to make jewelry. Narrator: Methane's an invisible
threat at Bantar Gebang. The gas comes from rotting
food, wood, and paper. When there's too much of
it, people can suffocate. And it can cause deadly eruptions. In 2005, trapped methane exploded at a dump site in Java and triggered an avalanche
that buried dozens of homes and killed 143 people. Most of them were scavengers
living near the landfill. But nothing stops Rasidin
from coming to work. Narrator: He makes around $25 a week. That's about a third of
Indonesia's minimum wage -- but still more than what farmers make. Narrator: Rasidin sells his
goods to middlemen like Adi, who then sells them to
another trash buyer. As many as 20,000 families here depend on Bantar Gebang to make a living. This land used to be mostly
forest and rice fields until the 1980s. Trash has been piling up ever since. Narrator: Rasidin has five children, and he dreams they might
one day make it out of here. Narrator: And Indhan has
a message for the wealthy.
