MAE
SOT, Thailand - February 2019 — When entering the landfill on the outskirts of Mae Sot on
Thailand’s border with Burma, flies buzz chaotically around the waste, which
ranges from metal devices to worn out clothes to rotten food, the pile standing
taller than a grown man.
“We
consume wasted food if it is good enough. We cook it, if needed. We make our
living by collecting wasted and recyclable materials and selling them,”
explained Ma San Aye, a 45 year-old Burmese woman originally from Kyaukki
Township in Pegu Division who has made her home at the garbage dump for more
than 15 years along with her children and grandchildren.
“We
can survive on 20 baht (US$0.58) a day here,” she said, sipping her tea as flies
attempt to land on the cup’s rim.
Ma
San Aye prepares to head out to collect rubbish. The garbage piles stand like a
small hill in an area called Mae Pa—it is where all of the waste from Mae Sot
town is thrown.
“Of
course it is bad for our health. Before, I had no diseases. Now, I have back
pain and chest pain. It is smelly, but we have adapted to it. Before, I would
vomit and I couldn’t eat for five days. But it is okay now,” said Ma San Aye
said.
She
said she makes around 2,000 baht (US$58) a month selling materials she finds at
the dump.
Those
who reside near the waste site live in makeshift tents, where they eat and
sleep. Some sort through the trash during the daytime, and others do so at
night.
Ma
San Aye’s grandson plays in a tent near the landfill where he lives with his
family.
“We
can’t survive if we are afraid of bad, dirty and smelly waste. It is like our
kitchen—we eat here and live here,” said Ko Than Oo, 49, while collecting
recyclable materials around the landfill.
Sweat
fell on his face and his clothes were soaked with perspiration.
“I
know the smell is not good for our health. I get severe headaches and
dizziness. Sometimes, I have heavy coughing,” he said. Ko
Than Oo collects recyclable waste at the front of the garbage dump in Mae Sot.
Ko
Than Oo has lived near the garbage pile with his blind and aging mother for 12
years. Despite the reforms underway in Burma, he said he has no plan to go back
to his homeland, as he does not have a job there. He makes about 150 baht
(US$4.34) a day by collecting and selling recyclable materials. This, he said,
is enough to feed himself and his mother.
Several
other people, including women and children, are also busy, collecting rubbish
in the heat. There are more than 100 households living at the garbage pile,
and, according to residents, some have been living here for up to 20 years.
Ko
Than Oo and other waste collectors work at the garbage pile in Mae Sot.
U
Moe Joe, chairman of Joint Action Committee for Burma Affairs in Mae Sot, has
been supporting Burmese workers in the area for 14 years. He told The Irrawaddy
that there are 300 Burmese people currently living in and around Mae Sot’s
landfill; they came to Thailand hoping to escape poverty and unemployment in their
hometowns.
“They
depend on the garbage. They make their living by collecting waste,” he said. Although
Mae Sot is experiencing economic growth, many of the benefits do not reach the
Burmese migrant workers who live and work there, U Moe Joe explained, saying
that instead, those who work in factories, construction, and in waste
collection are frequently “left behind.”
The
garbage collector Ko Than Oo said that migrants like himself are excluded from
experiencing development in Mae Sot, adding, “It has nothing to do with us.”
For
Ma San Aye, her relationship with the waste site has become a way of life, and
a resource on which she depends in order to make a living.
“For
us it is like a pile of gold and money. We rely on this garbage,” she says, smoking
a cheroot in her tent while her grandchildren play nearby.
