Bangun Village may look like an ordinary town. Situated on the outskirts of East Java's capital city, Surabaya, it used to sit atop a green hill with rolling rice fields and crystal clear rivers. Today, much of that beauty has disappeared. Piles of waste cover the land and contaminate the waterways.

Bangun Village is one of the places where Indonesia's waste imports end up. Homes are buried in piles of rubbish, scrap metal, and pollution from burning those wastes. Driving through the small alleys, people and cars cram through the wastes which are mostly made up of food packaging, household and personal care products from the UK, the United States and Germany, among others.

Giman has been living in the village since he was a little boy. He remembers those picturesque scenery. Now, he is the head of the town, and the piles of rubbish are his primary source of income.

"The people around here say if you don't want any trouble, don't touch our waste," said Giman.

That is how possessive Giman and the residents are of the piles of trash, but rightfully so, as scavengers selling the imported waste can make up to double the amount of nine U.S. dollars per day. Giman sells his waste to recycling facilities and other industries that eventually find a use for the plastic waste, or it ends up being burned, a hazardous act the residents are still unaware of.

Giman has put three of his children through school and university with the money he made scavenging through the imported trash. The UK remains the highest exporter of waste to Indonesia with imports reaching 68,000 tons in 2018, followed closely by Germany's 59,000 tons.

"I have made a life for my family by selling waste for the past 18 years. We want the government not to shut this down because as you can see, this is a poor neighborhood and this is our livelihood," said Giman.

Since last year, the volume of waste shipments from abroad has increased. Now, the types of shipping waste that arrive in Mojokerto varies, as developed countries begin to take advantage of Indonesia's weak import policies.

Prigi Arisandi, an environmentalist from the group Ecoton, has been working with the government and the residents to find common ground to solve this issue. As of recently, Indonesia has sent back containers of waste to developed countries accusing them of contaminating paper shipments with plastic waste which they deem are illegal.

"There needs to be a meeting point between the residents and the government. Three thousand people rely on waste as their source of income. We have to see a gradual change. It can take one to three years. The residents need to know there are other ways they can make money. But they also should know this is not normal or healthy. Being exposed to burned plastic waste has serious health issues in the long run," said Arisandi.

Based on the Trade Ministry's current regulations, imports of paper pieces are allowed to enter without having to undergo further inspection by authorities at the border. Hence, it is easy for other harmful waste to slip through shipments.

"Developed nations do not want this waste in their country because they know the negative impacts it brings. Burning the waste is harmful, and recycling is expensive. So they smuggle the waste into developing nations like Indonesia. Why? Because they think lives here are cheap, they don't think about how we should deal with the consequences," said Arisandi.

The issue became much more prominent when China banned waste imports in early 2018. These imports become a burden for countries that are already struggling to cope with domestic waste. Indonesia, in particular, is not ready to deal with the mountains of garbage because it has also become the biggest contributor of plastic waste to the sea.

The government is now working to tighten their policies and regulations to make sure no illegal shipments or smuggling occurs in the near future, and that every container is inspected thoroughly at their respective ports of arrival.