In Wasteland Oliver Franklin-Wallis visits Ghazipur outside Delhi, a garbage mountain of an estimated 14 million tonnes, 65 metres high and covering 28 hectares, to which 2500 tonnes of rubbish are added daily. Five thousand waste-pickers work its slopes, often working at night with headlamps so as to avoid daytime temperatures that can reach 50°C at the summit, which is where new waste, containing the best material, is to be found. The locals call it Mount Everest. The metaphor is apt
