As I got home today, there was a GIANT pile of trash right down the staircase of my apartment building. Normally, people leave their bags of trash in that spot for collection all the time so this should not be anything out of the ordinary.
What is unusual this time is the size of this pile. It’s freaking monstrous.

I started to notice quite a few of these enormous trash mountains scattered on the street. Something is definitely wrong here — are the garbage collectors on strike? Something wrong with the garbage trucks?
Landfill Protest
The cause of the trash build-up seems to be coming from one of the largest landfills in Hanoi — the Nam Sơn landfill. This landfill takes in about 70% of all the daily garbage volume from the city. From what I could gather, the problem seems to be with land dispute — local residents are not happy with the compensation they receive for land reclamation from city authorities, and the breaking point is the worsening pollution of the ground and water.
A lot of these people who live in close proximity to the landfill have not received payment for relocation. The landfill has been expanding rapidly, and now some houses lie less than 100 metres from the dump site! And even though the trash is supposed to be buried, there has been so much trash coming in that a little man-made hill of trash has been formed ?

And the pollution seems to be a huge issue: there is unbearable odour coming from the landfill; flies and maggots swarm the air, and garbage trucks cause disgusting leakages everywhere. Residents there seem to be at a dead-end. They can’t live there, and they can’t sell the land either. Who the hell would want to buy a house there??

This is not the first time this has happened either. Local residents have made numerous desperate attempts to negotiate and find solutions from authorities, but all they have received are empty promises. They have no other choice but to block the garbage trucks as a form of protest.
Greed and Red Tape
Apparently the city has repeatedly promised that there would be state-of-the-art waste processing facilities built soon in order to reduce pressure on the Nam Sơn landfill. However it has been years and the promise has never materialised.
Hanoi now has three major landfills and a couple tiny incineration facilities that can burn only a few hundred tons of trash a day (to put into perspective, Hanoi releases 7,000 tons of trash every day, the vast majority of which is dumped in the Nam Sơn landfill).

The rumour I’ve heard is that the former mayor was a greedy SOB; he did not green light multiple incineration projects because he could not personally embezzle and pocket the project money.
This might very well be true. I remember reading this article in which the author recalls his frustration trying to get permission for a Japanese-funded incineration/electricity generation project. The Japanese representative found himself mired in red tape hell. However he refused to grease the officials out of pride. The end result is that Vietnam missed out on an opportunity to have a modern Japanese-built incineration factory that would have processed large volumes of trash and generated cheap electricity for people, all because of greed and bureaucratic incompetence.
This is a tale as old as time — politicians putting greed and personal benefits above the interest of the people. Not much to see here.
The Importance of Sanitation
This story makes me think about how in this modern world, it can be quite easy to overlook the important of garbage processing as it’s something that just happens quietly and smoothly. But it’s only when the trash starts to pile up in front of our eyes that we start to appreciate the importance of sanitation. Honestly I feel like sanitation is just as vital to our survival as food, water, and shelter.
I found a couple stories of garbage collectors going on strike around the world. The result is exactly as it sounds: trash spilling on the street and… the smell. Horrible, nauseating smell. I feel like of all the workers who can go on strikes, garbage workers can deal the most damage to society. The consequences of them being off work is not just palpable and disgusting, but a huge health hazard if not quickly dealt with.
I’m thinking about how not too long ago — and even right now in some rural parts of the world, people are living among their own waste: human waste, organic waste, maggots and bacteria. No wonder why diarrhea and dysentery are so common in those areas. Well, what can I say — you just cannot be grateful enough for modern sewage and waste processing systems.
