Sad paradox in Vietnam’s largest “recycling billionaire village”
The intersections of Minh Khai village (also known as Khoai village in Nhu Quynh Van Lam town, Hung Yen) often hangs a sign “No trash dumping – If violating, the fine will be from 2 – 5 million VND”.
However, The ironic reality is that this village has been flooded with trash for decades. Every day, countless tons of plastic and plastic waste come here from all over so that Khoai villagers can turn trash into… money into gold. .
Kai Village has now been in the business of purchasing and recycling plastic waste for more than 20 years. This is considered the largest plastic waste recycling village in Vietnam related to plastic waste recycling not only domestically but also abroad. Thanks to this profession, many people in the village have changed their lives to become billionaires who build high-rise houses and buy “genuine cars.
The people here are always proud that ” Khoai village is an economic bright spot” Khoai village became rich thanks to garbage. Thanks to Khoai village, “a lot of non-biodegradable garbage has been…processed”. However, along with that come terrible consequences health and environment.
Dan Tri reporter arrived at Khoai village on November 10, 2022. As soon as we touched the ground of Khoai village, we overwhelmed by the dusty atmosphere mixed with the strong smell of plastic. Going deeper into the village is the scene of a large open-air construction site filled with all kinds of plastic waste, mainly nylon.
Large bundles of used plastic bags, pineapple sacks, plastic tubes, plastic trays, plastic pallets, bottles, etc., are stacked as high as mountains on both sides of the roads in the yards of factory areas. It seems that as long as there are empty spaces, there will be trash present there.
Every space, large and small, is utilized to serve the livelihood of producing and recycling plastic and plastic waste. of the people of Khoai village.
Coming to Khoai village, many people will be surprised by the excitement. The movement of this place is when trucks and tricycles continuously move on the village roads. On each vehicle is a group of 3-5 workers with dirty faces waiting to load goods. They are responsible for moving trash from gathering areas to factories or loading goods into large trucks.
Through rudimentary recycling stages, plastic waste is transformed into plastic pellets. All colors are sold locally and exported to provinces and cities at home and abroad. The process of bringing garbage to the village for recycling to create plastic granules to produce new products such as plastic bags, plastic cup trays, industrial nylon table and chair ties… has seriously polluted the air of Khoai village.
For many years, Khoai village was engulfed in smoke and dust. Dust mixed with garbage from everywhere gathers black smoke from factories and recycling factories that operate non-stop all day and night.
Even though some households have converted technology to build combustion systems. But perhaps that is nothing compared to the terrible recycling production speed of hundreds of household companies small family here.
Bales of trash and plastic pellets made from waste nylon materials of Korean origin are for sale on the “market” of Khoai village in the 4.0 era.
The people of Khoai village connect with traders in Hai Duong, Hai Phong... to buy bales of trash from Japan Hong Kong Korea. On Khoai village’s Facebook group, transactions related to international waste sources still take place.
PV Dan Tri can easily “order” Japanese PE plastic pellets Welding from recycling factories in Khoai village.
According to the reporter’s research, the majority of factory owners import waste plastic from electronics companies and garments in industrial zones… But many people are willing to ready to import used plastic bags from landfills while the bags from landfills contain everything in the world from discarded food to waste…
Hereditary generation, many young people in Khoai village are still attached to the profession of “working. garbage”.
Ms. Nguyen Thi Vien (a worker from Lao Cai working in Khoai village said) after a period of working at a plastic granulation factory, she often had headaches. nausea. Unable to stand the noise and unpleasant smell of plastic, she was forced to apply for a job packaging goods with a lower income.
A person living in Khoai village (unnamed) said: ” The air in the village has been polluted for many years. The most unpleasant thing is the smell of plastic that always lingers in the house. When you go out, there is trash everywhere.
Seeing the villagers get rich makes everyone happy But pollution is getting worse day by day. My village is famous everywhere for its recycling profession. They praise the villagers for being good at getting rich, but after the praise, there are sad records about pollution.”
Nylon landfills are also fully utilized.</ p>
Talking with Dan Tri Reporter, Mr. Nguyen Vuong Hong, Vice Chairman of Nhu Quynh Town People’s Committee, said that recycling plastic plastic has been a livelihood for the people of Khoai village for many years. Thanks to that, many households’ economies developed.
However, associated with that is the infection environment as a necessity. This has been a difficult problem in Khoai village for many years. The locality has also welcomed many expert delegations leading the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment to survey and find solutions, but they have not been effective.
According to Mr. Hong, the People’s Committee of Hung Yen province and other local authorities have The government has created craft village industrial parks aimed at bringing household recycling companies to concentrated production areas to reduce environmental pollution in residential areas.
Trash all over Khoai village….</ p>
In addition, the locality has also propagated people to convert to modern production lines to gradually overcome environmental pollution. “In recent years, some people have converted production to virgin plastic, clean plastic, and the rate of households recycling is decreasing,” Mr. Hong said.
The above sharing by the vice president Nhu Quynh town is probably one of the rare rays of light in the polluted atmosphere thick with the smell of plastic in Khoai village. But it may still take a lot of time and need many drastic measures to solve the decades-long environmental pollution problem here.
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