The issue of waste disposal is a hot topic in Quynh Luu.

Difficult problem

On May 30, 2022, Nghe An Urban Environment and Construction Joint Stock Company issued Notice No. 70/MTĐT clarifying that some units were transporting household waste from districts outside the permitted area to be collected at the designated collection point.Nghi Yen Solid Waste Treatment Complex(Nghi Loc) is in serious breach of the signed contract.

According to regulations, waste brought to the Nghi Yen Solid Waste Treatment Complex for collection and processing is only permitted to come from the following localities: Vinh City, Cua Lo Town, Nghi Loc District, and Dien Chau Town.

Trash is scattered all over the streets in Quynh Thuan commune (Quynh Luu district). Photo: Nguyen Hai

In this announcement, the Nghe An Urban Environment and Construction Joint Stock Company also stated that, from June 10, 2022, the company will unilaterally terminate contracts with units that have signed contracts but fail to fulfill the terms of the commitment, and cannot prove the origin of waste collected and transported from localities permitted to be collected at the Integrated Waste Treatment Complex.

According to our investigation, since June 10th, household waste has accumulated in communes such as Quynh Hau, Quynh Doi, Son Hai, Quynh Long, and Quynh Thuan (Quynh Luu district), causing environmental pollution and public discontent.

Currently, waste disposal is temporarily being carried out after collection units reached an agreement with the Nghi Son (Thanh Hoa) waste treatment plant to allow some trucks to temporarily dump their waste. However, in the long term, the locality needs to consider building a new waste treatment facility to replace the closed Ngoc Son landfill.

The entrance to the Ngoc Son landfill has been blocked and operations have been suspended for the past three years. Photo: Tien Dong

Mr. Ho Ngoc Thai, Director of Thai Binh Nguyen Co., Ltd., one of the three units currently contracted with communes and towns to collect household waste in Quynh Luu district, said: Since the landfill in Ngoc Son commune closed, the company has had to contact many other locations to dispose of waste.

The nearest waste treatment plants are in Nghia Dan and Hoang Mai districts, but due to their small capacity, and considering the daily volume of waste in the 33 communes and towns of Quynh Luu district is approximately 100 tons, they cannot process all of it. Therefore, in recent years, waste has been temporarily transported to the Nghi Yen Solid Waste Treatment Complex. However, after the Nghe An Urban Environment and Construction Joint Stock Company announced it would stop accepting waste from areas outside the designated zones, the handling of household waste in this area has truly reached a deadlock.

Recently, due to the inability to dump waste at the Nghi Yen Solid Waste Treatment Complex (Nghi Loc), garbage has accumulated in the Quynh Luu area, causing public discontent. Photo: Nguyen Hai

Currently, Thai Binh Nguyen Co., Ltd. has a contract to collect waste from 13 communes and Cau Giat town. In recent years, the volume of household waste has increased rapidly, not to mention the fact that some people lack awareness and mix construction waste with theirs, making sorting and processing very difficult.

Mr. Ho Manh Tuan, a land and environmental official in Quynh Hau commune, shared: "Although it's a rural area, there's very little space available for sorting and processing waste. Leftover food could be used for livestock and poultry, but small-scale household farming has declined. Waste such as plants and leaves also lacks space for drying and burning, causing smoke, dust, and pollution in residential areas. According to the new rural development plan, each district should have 1-2 solid waste collection sites, and each commune or cluster of communes should have one smaller solid waste collection site, but very few localities allocate land for them. If they do, they fear people will litter indiscriminately, so no locality wants to build one."

According to representatives of the units contracted to collect household waste in Quynh Luu district, people currently assume that waste disposal is the responsibility of environmental companies, so almost every family simply collects all types of waste into one bag, regardless of whether it's household waste, rubble, branches, or leaves. This is causing the amount of waste to increase very rapidly.

Currently, except for Cau Giat town where waste is collected every two days, other communes collect waste twice a week, or even once a week. When household waste is not collected and transported according to plan, it accumulates very quickly, and because it is left inside the house for too long, when it is transported out onto the street it emits a foul odor, creating a very unsanitary situation.

The Ngoc Son landfill, after becoming overflowing and causing environmental pollution, faced protests from local residents who refused to allow trucks to continue dumping waste there. Photo: Tien Dong

A long-term solution is needed.

Following the Nghi Yen Solid Waste Treatment Complex's decision to stop accepting waste from localities outside the designated area, on June 10, 2022, the People's Committee of Cau Giat town issued a document instructing agencies, organizations, and households in the area to inform them of the situation and request that residents sort their waste at source into two categories: non-biodegradable inorganic waste and easily biodegradable organic waste, into separate packages for collection by Thai Binh Nguyen Co., Ltd.

Similarly, in the two communes of Quynh Thuan and Quynh Long, immediately after learning that Thai Binh Nguyen Co., Ltd. would temporarily cease waste collection, the People's Committees of the two communes issued notices, disseminated information, and encouraged households to sort and process waste themselves, minimizing waste, and only bringing truly necessary waste to the centralized landfill for weekly collection by the company's vehicles.

Residents piled up their trash at the entrance to the alley, waiting for the environmental company to come and collect it. Photo: Nguyen Hai

Currently, although waste collected in residential areas and main roads in Quynh Luu district has been temporarily cleared, in reality, a large amount of accumulated waste still remains in residential areas. In many places, such as Quynh Ngoc and Son Hai, garbage is still piled up at the entrances to alleys.

According to a representative from the Department of Natural Resources and Environment of Quynh Luu district, the district had previously called on T-Tech Vietnam Technology Group Joint Stock Company to build a solid waste treatment plant in Ngoc Son commune, not far from the old landfill area. The Provincial People's Committee approved the investment plan on July 20, 2018. However, due to opposition from local residents, the solid waste treatment plant has not yet been implemented. Currently, despite repeated calls, no investors have approached the district.

Waste from communes in Quynh Luu district is being brought to a collection point next to Thai Binh Nguyen Co., Ltd. Photo: Tien Dong

Regarding the suspension of waste acceptance in Quynh Luu district and other localities outside the designated area, Mr. Pham Huu Thang – Head of the Administrative Organization Department of Nghe An Urban Environment and Construction Joint Stock Company – stated: The Nghi Yen Solid Waste Treatment Complex is only permitted to accept waste from Vinh City, Cua Lo Town, Nghi Loc District, Dien Chau Town, and surrounding areas within a 30 km radius. According to its assigned functions and duties, the company has signed contracts with private enterprises and units responsible for collecting and transporting waste from the aforementioned localities to receive and process household waste. However, there have been cases of individuals exploiting the contracts to dump waste into the Complex to collect and transport waste from other localities.

Workers are manually sorting garbage at the collection site. Photo: Nguyen Hai

Currently, the complex receives approximately 600 tons of waste per day and night. According to calculations, if the landfill reaches an elevation of 45 meters above sea level and maintains the current stable volume of waste, the eight landfill pits could accommodate and process waste until 2045. Mr. Thang emphasized that other localities wishing to dump waste here must obtain the approval of the Provincial People's Committee and the Vinh City People's Committee.

It is clear that, in the long term, Quynh Luu needs to build its own waste treatment plant. This is crucial to resolving the problem of accumulated household waste in the area. Transporting waste elsewhere is only a temporary solution, not to mention the increased transportation and processing costs, which are unsustainable for businesses. If the businesses currently under contract to process waste with the communes and towns abandon their contracts, the waste problem in Quynh Luu will become even more serious.