People litter in Lam River

According to the reporter's records on March 13-14, the area along the Lam River under Yen Xuan Bridge in Long Xa Commune, Hung Nguyen District, appeared many spontaneous garbage dumps. From plastic bags, plastic bottles, leftover food, worship items and even animal carcasses were thrown haphazardly for many days, emitting a foul smell. Many garbage dumps were burned on the spot, smoke rising to an area. It is worth mentioning that there was also a situation where people traveling on the bridge threw garbage straight into the Lam River.

On March 14, we witnessed a resident using a motorbike to pull a garbage truck down to the river. When asked, this resident calmly replied: "Seeing everyone dumping trash here, I also brought it out to dump...".

Ms. Nguyen Thi Nhung, a resident of Long Xa commune, Hung Nguyen district, was upset: The situation of littering along the Lam river has been happening for many months now. When it is sunny, it smells bad, when it rains, water from the dump overflows into the river, polluting the water source. People are very worried and have reported it to the local authorities.

According to records, because this area is far from residential areas and has few people passing by, some people have taken advantage of this to illegally dump waste into the river. In addition, the lack of reasonable waste collection points and ineffective waste collection systems are also the reasons for the increase in littering.

Discussing this issue, the Long Xa Commune authorities, Hung Nguyen District said: The locality has received many comments reflecting the situation of littering, causing pollution along the Lam River under Yen Xuan Bridge. The commune has also organized a number of garbage collection campaigns and propagandized people not to litter, but this problem still recurs. The main reason is that a part of the people are not aware, besides, the locality also lacks resources to maintain regular sanitation work.

Ms. Nguyen Thi Tuyet - Chairwoman of Long Xa Commune People's Committee emphasized: Previously, the commune also discovered a number of households illegally dumping waste in this area and had propagated and reminded. However, due to this situation continuing to recur, strong measures had to be applied. In early March 2025, the commune made records and fined a number of households for this behavior.

“In the long term, the locality has also installed surveillance cameras and warning signs to prevent illegal dumping. At the same time, people are encouraged to play a supervisory role. If they discover someone illegally dumping waste and report it to the authorities for timely handling, they will be rewarded,” Ms. Tuyet added.