Giant plumes of black smoke soaring above the Man Xa aluminum recycling village, paired with dust from hundreds of metric tons of slag, are causing serious environmental concerns in a residential area in Bac Ninh Province, northern Vietnam.

The air pollution has also caused severe breathing problems for individuals living in the village.

Some residents of the village, situated in Van Mon Commune under Yen Phong District in the province, said that the job of recycling aluminum allowed many villagers to maintain stable incomes, but it has triggered serious health problems.

Nearly 280 households in the village recycle and cast aluminum to make a living, according to an official from the People’s Committee of Van Mon Commune.

In the past, most of the households produced a very limited number of pots and pans. Over the past few years, however, they have expanded their operations, and even sold products to larger firms.

Bui Duc Thuyen, vice-chairman of the Van Mon Commune administration, told Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper on Wednesday that three years ago, the Bac Ninh Province People’s Committee sent forces to the village to check the state of pollution.

They found some 370,000 metric tons of slag covering many parts of the place. The waste was discharged into the environment from aluminum recycling furnaces.

The Bac Ninh Province Party Committee had earlier tasked the provincial administration with planning to transport the huge volume of slag to waste treatment facilities at an estimated cost of VND200 billion (US$8.2 million), Thuyen said.

However, the plan remains on paper, and the trash is still piling up.

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