Why do Chileans throw so many clothes into the desert? According to the data, nearly 40,000 tons of discarded clothes are thrown into the desert every year, and what is the purpose of doing so?
Have you ever thought that there is such a place in the world: full of devastation, abandoned clothes and household garbage? This is not a relic of human civilization, let alone a slum of some impoverished country, but a desert that is indisputable to the world.
Seeing this, it is natural to wonder: why are so many clothes and household waste being discarded in the desert? Is it to stop sandstorms and protect human settlements, or is it being transformed into a huge storage center in preparation for the reuse of these "precious resources" in the future?
The desert, called Atacama, is located in the western part of South America, straddling the four countries of Chile, Peru, Argentina and Bolivia, and it surrounds the Andes Mountains and the Pacific Ocean, with a total area of about 200,000 square kilometers.
Due to its geographical location, it is one of the driest regions in the world due to the combined influence of multiple climates.
There is almost no trace of life in this bare land, where the temperature difference between day and night is huge, the day is extremely hot, the night is bone-chilling, and what is more terrifying, the ultraviolet rays here are extremely strong enough to burn the skin, and the Atacama Desert has less than 20 millimeters of rainfall, and the drought is extreme.
However, in this land of death, there is a puzzling thing - a large number of human clothes and household garbage are continuously dumped here, and even form a "world-class" open garbage dump.
From afar, the Atacama Desert is not a true "desert" in its true nature, and as far as the eye can see, it is full of colorful clothes, shoes, and discarded tires of various shapes, and occasionally a few large trucks drive in, dumping more "goods" into this wasteland of eternal night.
The reason for such "abnormal" behavior is also from Chile itself, as one of the world's largest second-hand clothing recyclers, Chile buys about 60,000 tons of used clothes from all over the world every year.
The better quality garments are selected and re-marketed, and the rest can only be disposed of as garbage. However, the imbalance between supply and demand in the market, coupled with the high taxes and fees imposed by the government, has made it impossible for Chile to continue to digest so many leftover used clothes.
As a result, the authorities are determined to transform the Atacama Desert into a huge landfill, after all, it is inaccessible and the extremely arid climate seems to be suitable for piling up textile waste that is difficult to degrade naturally.
In this way, tens of thousands of tons of used clothes, shoes, and even many completely new and unused garments are ruthlessly dumped on the land of the Atacama Desert every year. Together with other household waste, they gradually piled up on this barren land, forming a shocking sight.
Yes, it's true, it takes hundreds of years for these abandoned clothes to completely degrade, and during this time, they can seriously pollute the surrounding soil and air.
To make matters worse, the garbage threatens the safety of the local groundwater, which can be further deteriorated in the Atacama Desert and its vicinity if the water is contaminated with toxins.
But in the face of such a serious environmental threat, the Chilean authorities have turned a blind eye to it, preferring to turn the Atacama Desert into a permanent "clothed river" rather than take on their share of environmental responsibility.
The reason is that the cost of disposing of so much clothing waste is too high, whether it is financial or manpower, it is a heavy burden, so simply let nature slowly "digest" these waste products, although the process is long, but save money and effort.
However, this short-sighted approach is doomed to be undesirable, and if this chaos is allowed to continue, I am afraid that more desert areas will suffer this fate in the near future.
Information source: "Chilean Desert Becomes Abandoned Garment Dump Discarded 39,000 Tons a Year" Guangming Network
