Residents of Guangming Village in China’s Guangdong Province say this waste processing plant is polluting their land, and possibly making them sick.

The Guangdong Medical Waste Processing Station was built in 1996. According to local media, it now processes more than 30 tons of waste per day.

Villagers say in recent years the plant began processing household waste and billows out pungent black smoke every day.

[Villager, Guangming Village]:
“It’s been burning a lot the past two years. There are a lot of pollutants. It’s not just processing medical waste. They’ve been contracted to process [regular] trash in Guangming Village, and they burn the trash right there.”

The waste station is located less than a third of a mile from where villagers live. They say it has polluted the underground water and destroyed the local plantations. Villagers also suspect the pollutants from the station are making people sick.

[Villager, Guangming Village]:
“Some have died, and they’re not sure what diseases they had. In any case, in recent years a lot of middle-aged women around here are sick.”

An engineer at the waste station told the Guangzhou Daily News that the black smoke is caused by malfunctioning incinerators. He said the smoke is toxic, but he would not elaborate on what toxins are present.

Villagers say they’ve told local officials about the pollution many times, but nothing has been done about it. Last year, the village’s Communist Party Committee renewed the contract with the waste station for another 10 years.