Stinky trash prompts protests

Chinese authorities are installing 100 deodorant guns at a landfill just outside Beijing in response to furious protests by residents who claim they can smell the stench on windy days.

According to British daily newspaper The Guardian, the high-pressure fragrance guns will be installed at the Asuwei dump site by the end of May, but are only a temporary fix for China’s waste crisis, which is growing by nearly 8 percent each year. Beijing’s 17 million residents now produce 18,000 tons of trash every day—seven tons more than the capacity of the city’s disposal plants.

Some attribute the countrywide problem to China’s growing economy, which has allowed many residents to adopt Western throwaway habits such as consuming Starbucks, McDonald’s and KFC on a regular basis.

The city also plans to apply additional plastic layers to the landfill in an effort to hamper the stench.