The release of videos showing improper waste disposal on the Baso-Qareh Tappeh lands southwest of the Miankaleh Wetland has sparked fresh concerns among environmental activists regarding threats to this biosphere reserve. Environmental activists and several residents of Qareh Tappeh, a village in Behshahr County, Mazandaran Province, sent a letter to the Behshahr prosecutor demanding an immediate halt to garbage dumping on these lands. An Instagram account named “Qareh Tappeh - Behshahr” published the letter, noting that local officials promised to resolve the abandoned waste crisis.
This comes as waste management crises at other northern Iranian landfills, such as Saravan near Rasht, Amol, Ingil-si in Babol, and Azadshahr, remain unresolved despite public protests and official promises.
It remains unclear when waste dumping on the Baso-Qareh Tappeh lands began. However, during the final days of August 2026, when winds blowing south from the Caspian Sea swept a foul stench into Behshahr, forcing residents to wear face masks outdoors for days, the source was traced to Qareh Tappeh as multiple videos began circulating on social media.
The dumping of waste and the resulting streams of toxic leachate in Qareh Tappeh, northwest of Behshahr, unfolded two years after the prosecutor shut down the region’s old landfill at the entrance to the Abbasabad tourist road in 2024. That former site was widely known as “Ashghal Tappeh” (Garbage Hill).
