reporter: manuela olivos decides who can help themelves to the piles of discarded textiles. a: i get money from people who come here looking for clothes either for themselves or to sell on. that's my livelihood. reporter: manuela olivos lives in a wooden hut on the dumpsite. she and her husband get a state pension worth the equivalent of 115 euros a month. the money she makes here is much-needed extra income. >> no one takes pity on us. i keep chickens and ducks, and i grow some plants. reporter: in nearby alto hospicio, authorities see the mountains of used clothes as a nuisance, but the environmental officer says he's powerless to do anything about it. edgar: the business with used clothing is highly lucrative for dealers in the free trade zone of iquique who import secondhand textiles. there are 53 of these companies and their business model is very profitable, but only for them. it's detrimental to the wider community. reporter: we head to iquique, the provincial capital, sandwiched between the desert and the pacific. this used to be a depressed region, until a container