More than 40,000 tonnes of garbage has stayed untreated in various suburbs of Hanoi over the last two months as locals gathered to prevent garbage trucks from entering a waste treatment area due to a land compensation disagreement.

As a quick fix, the Hanoi Department of Natural Resources and Environment rerouted garbage trucks to the Nam Son landfill in Soc Son District as an alternative to the entrance-blocked Xuan Son waste treatment zone in Ba Vi District.

Local people in Tan Linh Commune of Ba Vi District started assembling and stopping trucks from entering the Xuan Son waste treatment complex on February 7.

Their action was a voice of dissent to the city’s compensation rate for people who live near the dump and have to relocate for its expansion.

Local authorities tried to negotiate with the 21 affected households to no avail.

As of Friday, over 40,000 tonnes of garbage had heaped up along many streets across the Vietnamese capital city’s suburbs.

This is not the first time such an incident has occurred at the Nam Son waste treatment complex.

Residents of Ba Vi also blocked the entry to the dumpsite last month, prompting the People’s Committee of the district to offer a new compensation rate, which, however, still failed to satisfy the local people.

The Xuan Son landfill currently treats 1,500 tonnes of domestic waste a day for 12 districts in Hanoi, including Ba Vi, Chuong My, Dan Phuong, Hoai Duc, My Duc, Phuc Tho, Phu Xuyen, Quoc Oai, Thach That, Thanh Oai, Thuong Tin, and Ung Hoa, as well as Son Tay Town, according to news site VnExpress.

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