Pollution and fire risk at the scrap "warehouse" of Nghe An

Piles of plastic items at scrap processing facilities are a cause of high risk of fire and explosion. Photo: Hai An

Dien Hong small industrial park (IP) in Hong Thinh hamlet, Dien Hong commune (Dien Chau) is located next to National Highway 1A, this place is known as the "scrap warehouse" of Nghe An.

The main materials at the plastic recycling points here are plastic items, broken battery cases, nylon bags... purchased from everywhere, even in Laos, many of which are packaging for toxic chemicals such as organic solvents, herbicides, pesticides...

At one of the plastic mills, workers work in a toxic environment without standard protective gear. Photo: Hai An

According to many local residents, dozens of scrap metal manufacturing facilities are located in residential areas and operate day and night, forcing residents to live with pollution.

Not to mention hundreds of tons of waste that have been left untreated for many years. The unpleasant stench and toxic gases seriously affect people's health.

The businesses and plastic recyclers here only use preliminary settling tanks, which only separate the residue, while the toxic chemicals still seep straight into the ground. The industrial park's wastewater is led to 3 settling pits, but they have now all been filled in by households recycling scrap.

At scrap iron and steel sites, they also buy flammable oxygen and gas cylinders. Photo: Hai An

In addition to causing pollution, the Dien Hong scrap “warehouse” also poses a very high risk of fire and explosion. It is known that every day hundreds of types of scrap are collected from many places and gathered here. Many facilities also purchase materials with a high risk of explosion such as old gas cylinders and oxygen cylinders.

In factories, electrical wires are temporarily installed, production workers are mostly seasonal workers, lacking knowledge about fire prevention and fighting safety... most of the facility owners are still subjective in fire prevention and fighting work.

Waste and scrap are spilled onto the streets in Dien Hong industrial park, causing pollution. Photo: Hai An

Mr. Nguyen Hong Trung - Chairman of Dien Hong Commune People's Committee said: Dien Hong small industrial park currently has 18 households doing scrap recycling business.

In recent years, the authorities of communes and districts have introduced many measures such as: Building wastewater treatment systems, organizing businesses to sign environmental protection commitments; opening training classes to disseminate and propagate environmental protection laws...

However, the pollution situation in the industrial park has not been completely resolved.

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