'Living in misery' at Dong Vinh landfill

Suffering from pollution

It was almost noon at the end of November, but Mr. Ngo Cong Vien (70 years old, Vinh Xa hamlet, Hung Dong commune) was still busy taking care of the stunted vegetable beds in the field behind his house. Since planting vegetables, this old farmer has spent almost all day in the field fertilizing and watering. However, the vegetable beds he planted were still weak and refused to flourish.

“The land is now completely salty. The vegetables survive thanks to my regular watering and fertilizing,” said Mr. Vien. Mr. Vien is one of the few households that still persists in growing crops on this field, because for many years, this area has been heavily polluted by wastewater from a giant landfill nearby, causing soil degradation.

Next to Mr. Vien's vegetable fields are now barren, abandoned plots of land. Not only are the fields affected, but the people here are also often tortured by the stench from the Dong Vinh landfill. People living about 100m from the landfill have had to endure the pollution for decades. "The landfill has not been in operation for a long time, so it's a little better. Only when it's dug up occasionally does the stench reach the residential area. Before, we often had to eat rice with flies," said Mr. Vien, adding that on rainy days, water from the "stagnant ponds" in the landfill still flows out, giving off a strong stench.

Mr. Vien next to degraded land plots. Photo: Tien Hung

Meanwhile, in the summer, landfill fires often occur. Many fires smolder for days. At times like these, the smoke and dust pollution seriously affects the surrounding area. Not only Hung Dong commune, when landfill fires occur, people in Nghi Kim commune, quite far away, are also affected.

According to the reporter's records, the garbage dump is nearly 10 meters high, covering an area of ​​tens of thousands of square meters.². Due to many years of inactivity, weeds have grown thickly on the landfill. Therefore, in the summer, the grass and trees dry up and fires often occur. In the middle of the landfill, there are still many large, black, smelly water holes. According to local people, every time there is heavy rain, water from these holes overflows, polluting the surrounding area.

The "stagnant pond" inside the landfill causes pollution every time it rains. Photo: Tien Hung

Slow processing

Dong Vinh landfill has existed for decades. Over time, the amount of waste collected at this landfill has increased but has not been treated, so it has quickly become overloaded, causing serious pollution and affecting people's lives. Therefore, since the year 2000, this area has stopped operating, all of Vinh City's waste has been transferred to Nghi Yen Solid Waste Treatment Complex, Nghi Loc District for treatment.

In 2003, the Provincial People's Committee approved Seraphin Green Environment Technology Joint Stock Company (abbreviated as Seraphin Company) to implement a waste treatment plant project with a capacity of 200 tons/day and night. The Provincial People's Committee then leased more than 30,000 m² of land adjacent to Dong Vinh landfill to Seraphin Company to build the plant. In May 2005, Seraphin's waste treatment plant began operating. This plant has the function of treating fresh waste (daily household waste) and dry waste (buried in landfill). However, Seraphin Company then did not treat fresh waste but only dry waste. As of July 2013, the plant had only treated 257,113 tons of waste. Vinh City People's Committee has made an advance payment to Seraphin Company of more than 41.8 billion VND.

According to the company's report, there are still more than 84,000 tons of garbage left here. Photo: Tien Hung

According to the report of Vinh City People's Committee, after a period of operation, the factory encountered some problems. The Provincial People's Committee organized a working session and inspected the factory and on March 2, 2006 issued a notice requesting the company to complete technological equipment to operate at the correct design capacity and ensure environmental hygiene. On December 26, 2013, after the inspection, the Provincial People's Committee assigned Vinh City People's Committee to direct Seraphin Company to complete the procedures to stop implementing the project. Vinh City People's Committee then issued a document requesting Seraphin Company to stop all activities at the factory according to the request of the Provincial People's Committee. Therefore, according to Seraphin Company's estimate, there are currently about 84,000 tons of processed waste remaining in the factory, including 30,000 tons of bricks, stones, sand, gravel, glass, ceramic pieces...; 20,000 tons of classified organic humus; 34,000 tons of sorted waste waiting to be burned.

Since then, the People's Committee of Nghe An province has repeatedly urged relevant departments, branches, Vinh City People's Committee and Seraphin Company to completely handle the remaining waste at Dong Vinh landfill as soon as possible, ensuring environmental safety and hygiene and in accordance with regulations...

At the urging of the Provincial People's Committee, the Vinh City People's Committee has issued many documents requesting Seraphin Company to urgently handle the remaining waste, but so far there have been no results. "Currently, in the Seraphin Waste Treatment Plant area, there are still 84,000 tons of waste that have not been completely treated and the Vinh City People's Committee has paid the Company for the treatment fee of over 41 billion VND. Therefore, Seraphin Green Environment Technology Joint Stock Company must be responsible for handling the above remaining waste volume," stated one of a series of documents from the Vinh City People's Committee.

In the summer, the landfill often catches fire, affecting Nghi Kim commune. Photo: Document

In December 2021, the leaders of Vinh City People's Committee directly worked with the representative of Seraphin Company to find a "common voice". However, the representative of this enterprise said that because the enterprise's leadership had changed and shares had been transferred, they did not fully understand the process of resolving the backlog of waste at Dong Vinh landfill. The representative of Seraphin Company also could not decide whether to transport all the backlog of waste in the factory or not.

Speaking to reporters, a leader of the Vinh City People's Committee said that Seraphin Company was dragging its feet on waste treatment because the company believed that the project was invited by the province to invest, but was then terminated halfway, causing the company to suffer losses. The company's representative wanted the province to support funding to relocate the remaining waste at the Dong Vinh landfill and to implement a waste-to-energy project at the Nghi Yen landfill to make up for lost money.

Meanwhile, Mr. Tran Anh Tan - Chairman of Hung Dong Commune People's Committee said that the pollution at the landfill has been a source of frustration for local residents for many years. "In almost every meeting and voter meeting over the past years, local residents have reported the pollution situation. Local residents and authorities hope that this amount of waste will be treated soon," said Mr. Tan.