The village of Podgortsy, along with neighboring settlements, has long suffered from its fetid “neighbor” – a garbage cannon that poisons not only the air, but also life – according to a local activist, the local population is increasingly suffering from oncological diseases. Special correspondent for Radio NV Bogdan Amosov went to Podgortsy to find out how local and city authorities are going to solve the “dirty” problem.

The road to Podgortsy runs through the Stolichnoe highway. The bus I was driving to didn’t take me to my destination – the driver refused to go further, his wipers broke. He landed me actually in the middle of the road, near the stele “Krenichi”. Krenichi is another village that suffers from a landfill. There were still 4 kilometers to Podgortsy, which I had to walk in the rain.

The movement along the path between Krenichi and the landfill site is quite frisky, as for an ordinary rural road. The fact is that garbage trucks rush in both directions at high speed. They come here from all over Kiev and the Obukhov district to dump garbage at the landfill number 5. Because of this, the whole road is covered in garbage. Here, 20 kilometers from the capital, all the shoulders are covered with packages from supermarkets, bottles of coke and other rubbish, which at a speed drops out of trucks filled with waste.

While walking along the road, the polygon itself is seen to the left between the trees. This is a huge pile of garbage, which is half covered with earth. The other half is fresh garbage brought from the capital, which literally towers over the hill. They are brought in by the same dump trucks, and then the tractor is tamped down … But first things first. Already here, on the highway, an unpleasant smell begins to be felt. It will later turn into a stench.

I reach the turn in a landfill. Here, on the corner, I meet Oleg: a man with two packages in a blue raincoat is standing at the bus stop and is waiting for a bus that will take him to Kiev. Oleg has a summer cottage not far from Podgortsy, 5 kilometers away, however, above the range. But the stench from him sometimes reaches Oleg’s house. Summer resident of the problems of these places because of the toxic mountain of garbage knows and agrees to tell me a few local stories.