Officials say villagers dumped rubbish when the local government banned incineration but did not yet have a collection service
The clean-up came around two weeks after a viral video showed the state of a natural cave in Zhangjiajie’s Cili county in Hunan province that had been used for years by nearby villagers to dump rubbish, resulting in garbage piling up “as high as seven or eight floors”.
China’s ‘Spider-Man’ dangles off cliffs to clean up Tianmen Mountain in the city of Zhangjiajie
Rubbish and sewage built up in the descending cave and spilled to the surface, producing an unbearable stench, local press reported.
Confirming the findings on May 31, the Cili county government said it had found tonnes of garbage in two ancient caves, including mineral water bottles produced in 2015 which indicated the refuse had been there at least a decade.
