For over 2 weeks, many households in An Hiep and An Duc communes of Ba Tri district (Ben Tre) have gathered to hang banners, blocking garbage trucks from Ben Tre city to An Hiep landfill, protesting the garbage collection here because it pollutes their living environment.
Landfill No. 3 of Hoa Phu landfill, Long Ho district, Vinh Long
"Can't take it anymore"
Mr. Tran Van Phu, whose house is about 1 km from An Hiep landfill, said: "The extremely unpleasant stench has surrounded my family's residence for many months. There are always many green flies bigger than chopsticks flying everywhere in the house. I can't stand this situation anymore!"
According to Thanh Nien reporters, many houses within a 1km radius of An Hiep landfill have fly traps. Just opening the traps for a short time will attract a lot of green flies, but the flies still do not decrease.
According to a report from the Department of Natural Resources and Environment of Ben Tre, recent heavy rains have caused leachate and rainwater to overflow into the surrounding area; the stench has directly affected about 132 households within a 1km radius around, in the two communes of An Hiep and An Duc. People blocking garbage trucks and preventing garbage from being dumped at the An Hiep landfill has caused garbage trucks from Ben Tre City and Chau Thanh District to have no place to dump for about half a month. The amount of garbage has been stuck at nearly 200 tons/day, negatively affecting people and social order and safety.
According to Mr. Bui Minh Tuan, Director of the Department of Natural Resources and Environment of Ben Tre, from 2021 to now, the province's landfill in Huu Dinh and Phu Hung communes has been overloaded, so every day, nearly 200 tons of waste from Ben Tre City and Chau Thanh District have to be transported to An Hiep landfill for temporary dumping. Along with that, about 40 tons of waste from Ba Tri District are also gathered at An Hiep landfill, leading to this landfill being overloaded, causing serious environmental problems. The reaction of people living around An Hiep landfill is justified.
People near An Hiep landfill use traps to catch green flies that cling to their houses.
Waste treatment plants are overloaded.
Mr. Nguyen Tan Thuan, Deputy Director of the Department of Natural Resources and Environment of Long An, said that waste treatment has been a headache for local authorities for many years.
According to Mr. Thuan, Long An province collects more than 800 tons of household waste every day, but currently there is only one factory in Thanh Hoa district that can process about 300 tons per day. Every day, the amount of waste collected at this factory has reached its processing capacity. Therefore, the amount of waste that has been accumulated for many years at this landfill is about 30,000 tons but has not been processed, causing public anger.
Another current difficulty in waste collection in Long An is that the collection price issued by the Provincial People's Committee in 2021 is only about half of the actual price. This has led to the collection service units reacting, and in many localities they have refused to sign contracts to continue collecting. Therefore, over the past year, the Department of Natural Resources and Environment has coordinated with localities to implement many temporary solutions such as mobilizing, persuading and signing contracts according to the unit price in the document issued by the Provincial People's Committee before but has expired so that waste can still be collected and treated.
People of An Hiep and An Duc communes, Ba Tri district (Ben Tre) set up camps and blocked garbage trucks from Ben Tre city to An Hiep landfill.
In Vinh Long, the total amount of waste in the province is about 350 tons/day, but Hoa Phu landfill (Hoa Phu commune, Long Ho district) only handles it by burying it. During the rainy season, wastewater leaks into the surrounding area, causing a foul smell, affecting people's lives. Many people are upset and have sent petitions to the authorities.
Ms. Tran Thi Lan (63 years old), who lives next to the Hoa Phu landfill, said that on the side of the road in front of her house is a leachate reservoir. In both rainy and dry seasons, the stench is unbearable, even though the house is always closed. Especially in the dry season, flies fly all over the house, wanting to sell the house and move to another place but no one buys it. "What can the government do? It's still the same, the stench is getting worse. I heard that there are 3 landfills and another one is about to be built. If we bury them like this, when it rains, the water will stink up the whole village," Ms. Lan said indignantly.
Phu Quoc struggles to handle waste
Mr. Nguyen Thanh Tung, Head of the Phu Quoc Economic Zone Management Board (Kien Giang), said that Kien Giang province is preparing a new bidding document to find an investor for the Phu Quoc Waste Treatment Plant. The previous waste treatment plant project (invested by Minh Thuan Thanh Company - PV) has been revoked, and is currently preparing a bidding document to find a new investor.
Mr. Huynh Quang Hung, Chairman of Phu Quoc City People's Committee, said that garbage collection and treatment in the city is still being carried out as before. Currently, Phu Quoc collects about 180 tons of garbage every day. This is the statistical data of the amount of garbage collected, in addition, there is still a lot of uncollected garbage in residential areas, the amount of garbage generated is even more (about 20 tons). However, up to now, the garbage treatment plant in Bai Bon hamlet (Ham Ninh commune) is still not operating, the amount of garbage generated every day is still dumped at the temporary landfill in Dong Cay Sao (Cua Duong commune).
To handle the backlog of waste, at the end of May 2023, the People's Committee of Phu Quoc City started the waste treatment package under the waste treatment project at Dong Cay Sao temporary landfill. LICOGI 13 Specialized Materials and Technology Joint Stock Company won the bid. The waste treatment contract has a term of 22 months, with a budget of 55 billion VND, from the state budget.
Dong Cay Sao temporary landfill is over 5 hectares wide, and has existed since 2019. Currently, this landfill receives about 200 tons of waste every day, is overloaded, and causes serious pollution.
Hoang Trung
Mr. Ngo Thanh Thia, Director of Vinh Long Public Works Joint Stock Company, said that the sanitary landfill No. 3 was put into operation in May 2020, with a capacity of 200,000 tons. The amount of waste received was about 350 tons/day, and has now reached 260,000 tons, exceeding the design capacity. Currently, because it is an open landfill with a large area (3.2 hectares), a lot of rainwater infiltrates during the rainy season, causing leachate to form, affecting the environment.
Hoa Phu landfill is the largest landfill in Vinh Long province, planned on a plot of land of more than 47 hectares, currently using 18 hectares. This landfill has been in operation since 1997, mainly by landfilling. Currently, there are enterprises implementing 2 plastic bag sorting lines with a capacity of 10 tons/day, helping to eliminate a part of the non-decomposable and recyclable waste.
In Tra Vinh, the landfill in Long Hiep commune, Tra Cu district has an area of 1 hectare, is the garbage collection place for the whole district, also gives off a foul smell, and leachate affects people's lives.
The leader of the Department of Natural Resources and Environment of Tra Cu district said that because the owner of the garbage burning company was prosecuted and temporarily detained for causing environmental pollution, the garbage treatment in the locality was suspended. The locality had to use the landfill in Tra Sat A hamlet, Long Hiep commune to collect garbage. During peak times, this landfill was the place where garbage was collected for almost the entire district, causing a foul smell.
"When people complained, the Department of Natural Resources and Environment of Tra Cu District requested the collection unit to spray to treat the odor, and so far it has basically reduced it to the maximum. However, the Director of Tra Vinh Environmental Company (the district's waste treatment unit) was arrested, so this waste treatment plant also stopped operating. Dumping waste here is only temporary. In the near future, we will submit to the competent authority to carry out the procedures to revoke the project to re-grant it to a new unit to continue handling the district's waste," the leader of the Department of Natural Resources and Environment of Tra Cu District added.
Tra Vinh currently has 18 landfills and transfer sites in districts and communes. Every day, the whole province has about 450 tons of domestic waste, but the waste treatment plant only has a capacity of less than 50 tons/day. All waste in the area is mainly collected and transported to concentrated landfills for burial.
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