In recent years, many residents in Da Nang have continuously complained about the slow garbage collection and the overload at many dumping spots as these issues have adversely affected the urban landscapes and the environmental sanitation as well.

Sanitation workers collecting uploading garbage onto trucks on Tran Thanh Tong Street

It, therefore, is indeed high time for the city’s Urban Environment JSC to accelerate the construction of garbage transfer stations fully equipped with modern treatment technologies and transporting vehicles in the coming time in an attempt to enhance the capacity of garbage collection, and reduce the amount of time rubbish to be left on streets.

Over the past 2 years, many families living on Tran Thanh Tong in Son Tra District’s Nai Hien Dong Ward have expressed their annoyance about the environment pollution at 3 waste gathering spots along an only 700m-long section of the street.

Many residents are complaining about the unpleasant smell being emitted from these large-scale on-street makeshift dumps.

Also along Tran Thanh Tong, another rubbish collection spot located between 2 apartment buildings has left a pungent odour wafting though the surrounding areas, forcing passers-by to hold their noses. 

A waste dumping spot on Tran Thanh Tong Street has been causing environmental pollution

According to Mr Tran Van Tien, the Deputy General Director of the city’s Urban Environment JSC, Son Tra District is facing some arching difficulties in garbage collection as there are a total of 37 gathering spots with each accommodating between 10 and 20 trash bins. Many of these points are located at the wards of Nai Hien Dong, Man Quang and Tho Quang.

Currently, the amount of domestic waste collected from local alleys accounts for 60% of the city’s daily total.

A total of 280 sanitation workers from the Urban Environment JSC, are taking the responsibility of collecting domestic waste from alleys. However, in recent days, many of these waste collectors have quitted their job due to their job hardships.

It is believed that a current shortage of transfer stations is the main catalyst for the rise of on-street waste collection sites. Transfer station is a building or processing site for the temporary deposition of waste.

Mr Tien underlined a must-do to set up an around 700m² transfer station within in Son Tra District with a daily capacity of 150 tonnes of garbage, along with waste collecting and transporting vehicles, at a total cost of nearly 42 billion VND, in a bid to alleviate the waste load at existing gathering points.

He also revealed that a business is now willing to cooperate with the Urban Environment JSC to establish a 1,000m² transfer station on Le Thanh Nghi Street, insisting that appropriately positioning the facility will greatly reduce the number of on-street dumping locations.

In 2017, the Urban Environment JSC put into use many garbage compressing and transporting vehicles, 15 electric garbage carts, 1,000 240-litre trash bins, 200 660-litre ones, 100 3-wheeled carts and other waste disposal equipment.

As for its key tasks for this year, the company is aiming at the mechanised waste collection reaching 50% of total waste collected in the whole city, ensuring sanitation at festive events, and maintaining the operation of the Khanh Son Waste Dump in an effective manner.

Currently, the Urban Environment JSC is implementing a detailed plan for developing modern garbage transfer stations and mechanised means of transferring municipal general solid waste to the landfill sites in what has been designed to be as efficient and cost-effective as possible. Once it is completed, the plan will be submitted to the municipal People’s Committee for approval.

It is hoped that the timely construction of modern transfer stations and the enhancement of the mechanisation of garbage collection would alleviate the waste load at the existing on-street dump sites, hereby helping Da Nang still be on track of becoming an environmentally friendly city in the near future, and safeguarding a safe and healthy tourism environment.