Pollution Green Earth
Largest landfill reclamation project
The Fresh Kills Landfill at Staten Island, New York, USA, was opened in 1947. It was officially closed in early 2001 - although it temporarily reopened to receive debris from the 9/11 attack on the World Trade Center. At 890 hectares (2,220 acres), it is three times bigger than Central Park - and, in places, it is 68 meters (223 feet) high, taller than the Statue of Liberty. In October 2009, work began on a 30-year project to turn it into a public park.

Worst air pollution (country)
According to a 2011 World Health Organization report, Mongolia has the worst air pollution, with an annual average of 279 micrograms of "PM10" particles per cubic meter. In Mongolia, many factories burn coal and lots of people live in gers, felt-lined tens with central stoves in which coal or wood is burned. Ulan Bator, the Mongolian capital, which means "Red Hero", has been rechristened by the locals as Utan Bator, or "Smog Hero". It is the second most polluted city after Ahvaz

Highest levels of CO2
According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (USA), the atmospheric carbon dioxide level for January 2011 was 391.19 parts per million (ppm). this is up on the average for 2010, which was 387.35 parts per million.

City with the worst air pollution
According to a 2011 report by the World Health Organization (WHO), which measured air quality in 1,100 urban areas, Ahvaz, Iran, has the world's worst air pollution. Air pollution is measured by the amount of particles less than 10 micrometers across per cubic meter. Ahvaz has an annual average of 372 micrograms of these "PM10" particles per cubic meter, nearly 20 times the WHO's recommended safe level. The city with the least air pollution is Whitehorse in Yukon, Canada, which has an annual average of 3 micrograms of PM10 particles per cubic meter.

Largest national producer of CO2 emissions
According to the United Nations, as of 2008 China was responsible for 7,031,000,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions. This represented 23.33 percent of the global total.
The rest of the top five:
2. USA: 18.11 percent
3. India: 5.78 percent
4. Russia: 5.67 percent
5. Japan: 4.01 percent

Worst SO2 fire
A fire at a sulfur plant near Mosul, Iraq, which began on 24 June 2003, released an average of 21,00 metric tonnes of sulfur dioxide per day for nearly a month. In all, 600,000 metric tonnes escaped - representing the greatest man-made release of sulfur dioxide and exceeding the sulfur dioxide output from most volcanic eruptions.
Most lethal smog
Between 3,500 and 4,000 people, mainly the elderly and children, died in London, UK, from acute bronchitis caused by thick smog between 4 and 9 December 1952. It was caused by the burning of fossil fuels combined with a weather inversion that trapped smoke particles near the ground. Visibility in the streets was only 30 centimeters (12 inches) and cinemas had to close because it was impossible to see the screens.