Waste is a growing ecological problem that not only threatens the environment and natural ecosystems, but also poses a growing risk to public health. According to statistics, more than half of the world’s population does not have access to regular waste collection. In such cases, unregulated and illegal landfills are formed, which contain more than 40% of waste worldwide.

Environmentalists are keen to identify illegal waste dumps. They have used GPS tracking devices attached to seagulls, which are known to frequent waste dumps. Tracking their routes and collection points has helped uncover one of the largest illegal waste dumps in Spain.