The towering sandstone pillars in central China that climb into the misty sky are renowned for their beauty, inspiring the alternate universe in the 2009 blockbuster “Avatar.”
But in recent weeks, the national park of Zhangjiajie, the location of those stunning formations topped with pine trees, has become known for a sight far less appealing: mountains of trash.
The government in Cili County in Hunan Province, which oversees the park, ordered a huge cleanup effort this month after videos posted by cave explorers of the garbage buildup spread widely.
As of Wednesday, 51 metric tons of trash have been removed from two caves, according to the local authorities.
Villagers started dumping trash and pig manure in the caves in 2010, the official Xinhua news agency reported, after the county authorities banned the burning of waste. It took several years before the county’s trash collection services were able to deal with the amount of waste being disposed of, including from the county’s large pig-farming industry.
A cave explorer and environmental activist who had posted some of the most widely shared videos said in a message that he was shocked when he saw the piles of manure and trash, which he said was seven or eight stories high. The limestone in the karst caves was stained so black that he initially mistook the waste for coal, he added. He spoke on the condition of being identified only by his online pseudonym, Xiaofugege, because of the sensitivity of environmental issues in China.
Local authorities said that of the 200 caves they had inspected, about two-thirds were contaminated, though drinking water in the region was found to be safe. The authorities have also suspended four officials and were investigating 12 livestock farms over the unlawful discharge of wastewater.
The authorities have also posted videos of the cleanup, with cranes hoisting trash from the depths of the caves. But these efforts were halted after toxic and flammable gases were detected in the caves, China Newsweek, a state outlet, reported.
China has struggled with industrial pollution elsewhere. In 2011, a chemical company dumped 5,000 metric tons of chromium into reservoirs in Yunnan, in China’s southwest, killing fish and livestock, and poisoning the drinking water of thousands of people.
And for the past several years, the authorities in Bijie city in the southwestern province of Guizhou found that sewage water had contaminated the waterways, and that at least 12 of the surrounding karst caves were also clogged, in some cases with sewage water, others with manure, and still others with construction or household waste.
Zixu Wang is a Times reporter and researcher covering news in mainland China and Hong Kong.
Tiffany May is a reporter based in Hong Kong, covering the politics, business and culture of the city and the broader region.
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