Maybe I’ve been watching too much “Dexter” lately. I might have given the serial dumper too much credit. Oh, he’s definitely a serial dumper. And he’s certainly ballsy. But I don’t think he’s as cheeky as I’ve made him out to be. Specifically, I don’t think he’s been rigging up the caution tape around the piles he’s been leaving lately in some of the most scenic new parts of Guangzhou. A correction or clarification is in order for Waffles & Steel.
I say this because on Wednesday morning we discovered another dump-and-run pile in the same general spot – close to the TV Tower, the city’s newest landmark. We found it just as two guys in an official white city government pick-up truck were leaving the scene. Caution tape had already been neatly strung up around the pile of debris, stuffed into heavy duty burlappy white nylon bags. It seems like the guys in the pickup were on dawn patrol, searching for fresh piles and calling them in to clean-up crews.
The dawn patrol guys were getting into their truck when I whipped out my camera to shoot a photo of the mound. They saw me do this and quickly got out of the truck. It looked like they were getting ready to stop me from shooting. That’s when I realized that the last time I uploaded photos to my computer, I forgot to stick the memory card back into my camera. I put the camera back into my jersey pocket and said to the men, “Who’s doing this? I’m seeing these piles almost everyday.” One of them grumbled back, “Some really bad person is doing it. Yes, it’s happening almost everyday.”
It’s interesting how efficient and vigilant they’ve become. When the Asia Games start in the fall, Guangzhou simply can’t tolerate dump and runs.
We warmly welcome you to our civilized city of Guangzhou!!!
On today’s morning ride, we encountered the best dump-and-run ever! Regular readers of Waffles & Steel already know that I’m obsessed with these things. Background: It’s common in Guangzhou for trucks hauling construction debris to dump their loads in the street overnight. Most of them do it to avoid tipping fees or to save fuel and time. But I’m pretty sure that I’ve discovered the work of a serial dumper who’s trying to make a statement. The culprit has been dumping his load near Guangzhou’s newest icon – the TV tower, touted to be the world’s tallest. It looks like a giant rolled-up newspaper that’s scrunched in the middle and standing up on one end. This is the second time I’ve seen a dump-and-run pile left so close to the TV tower. Also nearby is the half-built stadium that will serve as the venue for the Asian Games’ opening ceremony. By picking this spot to dump, the culprit is basically giving the big finger to the Communist Party mandarins who run Guangzhou. It’s extremely brazen.
Be careful, I just dumped a massive pile of crap on the road. Have a nice day!
Initially, I thought the dumper favored this spot because it was convenient. It’s a frontage road along the Pearl River, and there are no CCTV cameras in the area. But something in today’s pile tells me something more is going on. Check out how the dumper carefully rigged up the warning tape around the pile. It was as if he were saying: “Careful, be sure to avoid this huge pile of debris I left on the road near the spectacular TV tower. Hah! Boo-yah!”
A calling card?
It even looks like they took a break for a game of cards. Before Guangzhou really started to rev up for the Asian Games, these piles would stay on the streets for two or three days. Now it seems that crews waste no time cleaning them up. A street sweeper was already working on it when I stopped to shoot it. He said it would take three people to get rid of it.
King of the mountain!
This was the first of two piles that we had to ride around this morning. It was mostly bags of dirt and other fill, dumped in the fast lane a few kilometers from my home. I’ve said it many times before and I’ll say it again. For me, the dump-and-runs are a perfect example of a popular attitude in China: “Screw everyone else! I’ll do what I can get away with!” Sure, this is a common attitude with the human race in general. But it’s way too common in China.
This all-too-common scene perfectly illustrates a popular attitude in China: “Screw everyone else. I’m going to do what I want to do as long as I can get away with it.” Sure, it’s a mentality popular with much of humanity. But you can easily find some extreme examples of it on Guangzhou’s roads.
What we have here is a classic dump and run. My best theory is that some construction crew or trucker decided to save some money on fuel and tipping fees by just dumping the load in the street in the middle of the night. I found this pile at about 7 a.m. on Sunday’s ride. I’ve never seen one of these things cause an accident, but it could happen so easily because they’re hard to see on the city’s poorly lit roads.
Why do they dump in the middle of the city? Why not do it on the outskirts of town? I guess they're being green by saving fuel.
The most remarkable thing is that this load was dropped in one of the most beautiful – maybe new and modern might be better adjectives – parts of the city. Just to the left is a nice linear park that runs along the Pearl River. People run and stroll along the wide sidewalk in the morning and evening, enjoying the breezes and views of the river. A couple blocks away is a spectacular line of new skyscrapers and other buildings, including the new opera house. Also nearby is the stadium that will be the venue for the opening ceremony of the Asian Games in November. An intense beautification campaign has been going in full gear for months. Billboards all over the city urge people to be more “civilized.” So by dumping the debris in this spot, the culprits were really giving Guangzhou the big finger.
At least they bagged most of it up this time. Usually they just leave a sprawling pile of cracked dry wall, concrete chunks and splintered plywood. But I guess if the stuff is bagged up, you can dump it faster.
I’m intrigued by the “Dump and Run” phenomenon on Chinese roads. Someone with a truck piled high with rubble, dirt, smashed up drywall, spintery plywood or a combination of all four, plus some more stuff, sets off on a midnight run to the landfill but decides to pocket the tipping fees and just dump the stuff on the road under the cover of darkness. It just typifies the popular attitude in China (and..ahem…on Wall Street): Screw everyone else! I’m making some extra cash while nobody’s looking! This is how melamine ends up in baby formula and lead paint on toys.
Yesterday, the Southern Metropolis Daily, one of the region’s most popular newspapers, had a story about how a few tons of dirt – mud, actually – ended up on a Guangzhou street in the middle of the night on Wednesday. The mud covered a one-kilometer stretch of the road, and it took a crew four hours to clean it up.
One of my nightmares is that I’m hammering down a road at 40 kph in the early morning darkness and suddenly I plough into a mud slide like this and do an endo into the muck.
A few weeks ago, I saw a spectacular D&R on a side road in a Guangzhou industrial park near the Pearl River Brewery. This one was mostly made up of chunks of pulverized concrete and took up about two city blocks. Unfortunately, I didn’t have my camera with me.
I’ve posted the below photo (credit: Simon Sandral) on this blog before, but I’m reposting it because this D&R was so brazen. Done on a highway! The amazing thing is that I’ve never seen these trash piles cause an accident.
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