Heart-breaking pictures show them running around the site

for valuable trash at a landfill site near Nanning City in China


For most Chinese children, they live comfortable lives filled with school, toys and happiness, but for others like these children in Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, they live out their childhood at a landfill site accompanying their parents there every day.

At Nanning City's largest landfill site, a group of young children grow up and play in the filthy surroundings while less-fortunate families flock to the area to make as much money as possible from people's unwanted goods.

According to Chinese media, the landfill site is overwhelmed with the amount of waste arriving there every day.

Garbage games: Children play among the landfill waste while their parents try to scavenge for anything they can make money from

Striking gold: When a garbage truck unloads, the children and their parents flock to see what they can find

No shoes: The children play carelessly without shoes at Nanning City's largest garbage dump in Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region

Cash for rubbish: A Chinese garbage collector searches for useful waste at the landfill site while children play in the background

Fooling around: A Chinese boy plays around on an old sofa at a landfill site in Guangxi Autonomous Region in China

In summer 2015, around 440 garbage trucks began to arrive every day to dispose of rubbish from the city, People's Daily Online reports.

According to reports, around 3,000 tonnes of rubbish is discarded at the site every day with some daily levels reaching 3,600 tonnes which is exactly three times over the site's daily processing capacity.

According to Xinhua, the southern area of the site is almost full and therefore within the next two years Nanning will become overcome with rubbish without a place to put it.

Recycled trash: Most of the food the children eat and the toys they play with come from the landfill site in Nanning City

Packed: The landfill site takes an average of 3,000 tonnes of rubbish a day but sometimes takes up to 3,600 tonnes

Fun and games: A young boy runs with bare feet at a landfill in Nanning City, south China's Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region

According to local reports, around 95 percent of household waste from the area is sent to this landfill site.

Most of the children who play there while their parents scavenge for valuable goods, eat food and use toys that they find on the site.

Many of the children wear clothes that are found at the landfill.

Whenever a rubbish truck unloads, waste pickers rush to find the most valuable or reusable materials. There are many children among them aged between two and eight years old.

The children are inventive, using their surroundings like a playground, climbing and jumping over rubbish.

According to Reuters, there are 70 million people in China living below the poverty line. The government announced plans in October 2015 to lift all of those 70 million out of the poverty zone within the next six years at an average of a million people a month.

According to data from the national bureau of statistics, those below the poverty line earn less than £236 (2,300 yuan) a year.

Poverty remains a big problem in the country especially in more rural areas where there is a severe lack of jobs meaning that large numbers flock to major cities such as Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou.

A young Chinese boy holds bowls at the landfill site near Nanning City, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous region, southern China

Room for improvement: According to Chinese media, around 95 percent of Nanning's waste is sent to the landfill site

Fun in the trash: A boy plays among the rubbish at a landfill site in Nanning City, Guangxi Autonomous region