A Google Earth image shows the landfill sites circling Beijing that have been documented by Wang Jiuliang in his photo essay, A City Beseiged by Waste. The photographer won the gold award for outstanding artist of the year at the 2009 Lianzhou international photography festival for this work
Photograph: Wang Jiuliang
Human excrement collected from planes, trains, and long-distance buses is dumped here in big plastic bags. Because there is no convenient way to get rid of the waste - aside from the small quantity that farmers take for fertilisers - large quantities are being dumped in landfill along with the rest of the garbage
Photograph: Wang Jiuliang
This landfill is right near a river bank, where waters have been polluted with the decomposing toxins from the waste. Dairy cows from a nearby farm come to the river daily to drink, and root among the trash for things to eat
Photograph: Wang Jiuliang
This landfill site is located between the fourth and fifth city ring roads in an area surrounded by commercial centres, parks and famous sightseeing areas. There are roughly over 70,000 people living in apartment complexes and villages nearby
Photograph: Wang Jiuliang
The 40-hectare Gaoantun landfill is only 1.2km away from the city's largest government-subsidised housing programme, seen here under construction in the distance
Photograph: Wang Jiuliang
Gao'antun is one of the first and largest waste incineration and power generation plants in China. However, toxic fumes and wastes such as dioxin, ashes, and heavy metals released through burning trash have since been making life unpleasant for the hundreds of thousands of residents in nearby Tongzhou and Chaoyang districts
Photograph: Wang Jiuliang
Trash is burned every other day here, filling the area with an acrid stench. Every day this winter, around 200 lambs come to scavenge for food in the dump. To prevent the lambs from getting sick from eating the trash, their owners inject their flock with antibiotics
Photograph: Wang Jiuliang
Over 200 sheep engorge themselves on mouthfuls of trash, heightening their risk of disease and infection. Toxic smoke permeates the air from small fires that burn throughout the Tuanli landfill site
Photograph: Wang Jiuliang
A considerable amount of construction waste has been left over from large-scale development projects. Pictured here is quicklime waste from the construction; the caustic material has seeped deep into the surrounding sources of ground water
Photograph: Wang Jiuliang
This park is still under construction but already completely covered with plastic bags
Photograph: Wang Jiuliang
Rubble and cement discarded at a construction site after the completion of the Beijing-Tianjin intercity railway. The 10,000 sq m site is covered with a layer of cement as thick as 50cm. Large amounts of land were left desolate and cemented solid after construction was completed; the intercity rail covers 100km and there are many more similar abandoned sites all along the way
Photograph: Wang Jiuliang
A waste transfer station that looks more like a rubbish dump. No measures were taken to prevent the decomposing trash (along with the waste water from a nearby plant) from seeping into and polluting the groundwater. There are greenhouses all around the area growing vegetables and the polluted groundwater is in turn used to irrigate these plants
Photograph: Wang Jiuliang
This landfill is located in between Chaoyang and Tongzhou districts of Beijing. In the distance: upscale condos and high-rises. In the foreground: human excrement dumped at the site
Photograph: Wang Jiuliang
This large landfill stretches from north of Lugou Bridge to the west bank of Yongding River in Yingshan Nanlu. In the 10 years since it first started out as a dump, rubbish mixed with compost has encroached upon all of Yongding River
Photograph: Wang Jiuliang
A shanty town for migrant workers built on a landfill. At its height, the site attracted more than 2,000 migrant workers from the most populous provinces including Sichuan, Henan and Anhui
Photograph: Wang Jiuliang
Migrant workers gather scrap metal to sell
Photograph: Wang Jiuliang
Children playing on the site.
The Lianzhou international photography festival awards the prize for outstanding artist of the year to photographers producing original work. The 2008 winner was On the Road, a project by Luo Dan
Photograph: Wang Jiuliang
