I've seen filth all over the world ... but mostly Latin America, where I spent enough time to understand the cultural reasons of WHY there is SO MUCH trash and WHY no one seems to give a SH*T.
It's not just "trash" like plastic bottles, plastic bags, it's also filth from raw sewage, construction debris, car junk, anything. With Sewage (a serious one) it's that it has NO WHERE to go. In places, Civil Engineering is NOT their strong suit!
![Nono](https://www.horizonsunlimited.com/hubb/images/smilies/nono.gif)
So it goes downhill, to a river, the Ocean or in the street where you walking! We've all seen (and smelled this) many times I'm sure, and not just in Latin America.
I spent time at the MAIN dump just outside Mexico City. (a City of about 22 million) The scene there rates pretty high on my "dirtiest" place list. Hundreds of people ... including LOTS of young kids (think "SlumDog Millionaire") live there and make a living sorting through trash. Astounding scene.
I worked on a movie that filmed in that Dump for TWO DAYS and NIGHTS. The Dump is so huge, words cannot describe. It goes on and on for hundreds of hectares. After an hour there, you become "nose blind" to the smell. At night when you leave, you are covered in DIRT! Seeing the kids digging in the garbage and avoiding the cops and Bull Dozers was unbelievable.
The good news is many countries in Latin America have launched campaigns to counter random street littering. I saw littering as a kind of "Macho" thing, to just toss trash down like you don't care. But lately, less of this attitude. Ads against littering are mostly targeted at young people. It works. Also, lots more TRASH CANS ... everywhere! So, at least some positives here that I have seen, in person, over the last 30 years.
Also, if you talk to locals, they will tell you they have street sweeper people who's job it is to sweep up. (they do) They felt if they stopped littering, then the street cleaners might be OUT OF A JOB! Whatever!
Another stand out slum in Peru' are the MASSIVE slums along the Pan Am
just North of Lima. I don't know what this area is like NOW, but when I saw it many years ago ... it was nasty. THOUSANDS of unfinished houses, little to NO infrastructure, for sure no Sewage management. The scene was quite
astounding ... when 20 minutes South you're in the Miraflores neighborhood of Lima.
In Germany, if you throw trash on the ground ... some old lady will come after you, and scold you! NIEN NIEN NIEN!!
Folks in "teutonic" northern countries are especially anal regards liter and garbage ...a bit over board sometimes?
Kids in the US are also well trained now to deal with trash ... and water bottles have become declasse here in
California. NOT A HIP THING at all. Re-usable bottles are The Way .. (for now).
But it is disheartening to see a beautiful landscape ruined by thousands of plastic bags trapped in a road side fence. This, even today, is still all too common. California is NOW in the process of BANNING all plastic bags. How long until the rest of the world follows?
The real travelers question could also be:
What is the dirtiest place you have eaten? (restaurant or public market)
and What is the dirtiest "hotel" or "Hostel" you have paid to stay in for the night?
I've got quite a few "good ones".
Next up? Public bathrooms (WC)!!!