In the early years of the century, Dongxiaokou, a village in Beijing's northern suburbs, used to be a major waste storage and recycling center where tons of waste was collected, piled, packaged and transferred on a daily basis.

Hundreds of waste collection stations here were mostly operated by migrants from Gushi county, Central China's Henan province. They lived and worked in an extremely filthy and messy environment where their children played on mountains of garbage.

As the capital seeks improving urban management and beautifying the environment, the "garbage village" ceased to exist at the end of April 2014. The recycling stations were demolished and the garbage collectors were relocated.

Over a decade, the vacated land now features green grass and saplings. The waste recycling stations were phased out and several modern waste treatment plants, which are clean and highly efficient, have been built in other places.