Lima’s rubbish problem. Samuel’s other airborne companions have been given more evocative names: Capitan Huggin, Capitan Fenix (named after the mythological creature that rises from the ashes) and Capitana Aella ( “Whirlwind”). A tongue- in-cheek video adds a melodramatic voiceover, in which the noble” carthatidae lineage – the vultures” are pitted against pestilence and disease, while “humanity is placidly ignoring the danger”. The project makes a serious point. With just four landfills in a city of nearly ten million inhabitants, there are countless illegal dumps. A fifth of the rubbish ends up there, according to the Environment Ministry. Run-off from the waste contaminates Lima’s main water source, the Rimac river, as well as the Chillon and Lurin rivers, which flow into the Bay of Lima. The environmental supervision agency, OEFA, says that three poorer neighbourhoods, despite having only 12% of Lima’s population, have by far the most fly-tipped rubbish: Villa Maria del Triunfo (39.4%), Villa El Salvador (25.3%) and El Agustino (18.3%). The problem, in part, is unpaid taxes. Many residents, especially in the barrios , just don’t pay. That means some of the 43 district municipalities lack the resources for basic services such as rubbish collection. It also means nobody is necessarily going to clean up where the vultures identify illegal rubbish.