For approximately one week, a substantial pile of hundreds of tons of old clothes has accumulated on vacant land near the Pham Hung - Le Duc Tho road project.
Residents reported that the clothes were initially contained in sacks, stacked over one meter high. Subsequently, individuals rummaged through the piles for usable items, tearing open many sacks and scattering the clothes widely. After days exposed to the weather, the garments became waterlogged and started to emit a foul odor.
Le Quang Hop, Director of the Tu Liem Ward Infrastructure Investment Project Management Board, confirmed that authorities traced the clothes to an individual who had collected them for charity over several years. The unusable items were then discarded at the project location.
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Old clothes are being collected for transport to the Nam Son landfill. Photo: Viet An
Following resident complaints, the Tu Liem Ward People's Committee partnered with the Cau Dien branch of Hanoi Urban Environment Company Limited to collect and transport the clothes to the Nam Son Waste Treatment Complex for processing as industrial waste.
Cleanup operations commenced on 13/10. Within two days, a significant volume of clothes was transported. Given the large amount of waste, spread over a vacant area exceeding 100 meters, the cleanup crew employed excavators to load the garments onto refuse trucks.
By noon on 15/10, approximately 10 individuals arrived in trucks from various areas, scavenging for usable clothes to repurpose as rags or sell to recycling facilities. Some were drying waterlogged garments directly at the site.
A representative from Hanoi Urban Environment Company Limited estimated the cost for collecting, transporting, and processing the clothes at around 200 million Vietnamese dong. Cleanup is projected to conclude on 16/10.
Tu Liem Ward Police have engaged with the individual responsible for the dumping and recommended penalties.
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A large quantity of clothes has now been removed. Photo: Viet An
Current regulations stipulate that individuals improperly disposing of household waste on sidewalks, roads, or into urban drainage systems can incur fines ranging from one to two million Vietnamese dong.
For illegal dumping of ordinary solid waste, fines are based on the waste volume and can reach 250 million Vietnamese dong for individuals, contingent on the violation's nature and severity. Offenders may also be compelled to cover waste collection, transport, and processing costs.
Viet An
