Garbage collectors in Ho Chi Minh City have voiced their doubts over the feasibility of the Department of Transport’s proposal to eliminate rudimentary garbage vehicles, wondering which vehicles can travel to narrow alleys to collect trash.

Rudimentary and old garbage vehicles are rampant on the streets of the southern metropolis.

When they pass through, commuters on other vehicles are startled and hold their noses due to the foul odor from garbage vehicles.

These vehicles are most active between 4:00 pm and 9:00 am the next day.

Garbage often piles up on these vehicles, accompanied by big bags and even dustbins.

Many of them are severely deteriorated and have no rear-view mirrors. Drivers usually do not wear helmets and cannot see anything in the rear as the trailers obscure the drivers’ view.

These overloaded vehicles have caused concern among commuters.

There is sometimes a person classifying garbage standing on top of the makeshift trailer. With just a sharp bend or hard braking, the person may fall into the road.

A rudimentary garbage vehicle with garbage piling up high is seen in District 12, Ho Chi Minh City.

Vu Thanh, a 29-year-old resident in Thu Duc City, a district-level administration unit under Ho Chi Minh City, said while he was traveling on Pham Van Dong Street to his workplace, he sometimes had to wait at red lights next to vehicles full of garbage with leachate leaking and an awful odor emitting.

“The career of waste collectors is worthy of respect but such garbage vehicles are too old and no longer appropriate for the city.

“[I] hope engineers will design more modern vehicles to replace [these old ones],” Thanh added.

According to Kieu Trang, a 25-year-old resident in Phu Nhuan District, such trash vehicles have no blinkers, thus are not safe.

People sitting on a rudimentary garbage vehicle do not wear helmets.

H.A., a garbage collector, shared that her monthly salary is VND6 million (US$234.6). 

She begins her work at 1:00 am every day.

She rides the motorbike to a site where trailers are put, connects a trailer to her motorbike, and runs to small alleys to collect garbage.

When the trailer is full of trash, she runs to a parking lot for garbage compactors and transfers the trash from her trailer to a garbage compactor.

She collects five trailers of trash per day and finishes her work at 9:00 am.

There are some alleys that allow only small garbage vehicles. If the city replaces these vehicles with larger ones, they cannot enter small alleys, H.A. shared, adding that she cannot drive a truck.

A woman presses garbage on a rudimentary vehicle while it is running.

T.S., another trash collector, said he refused to receive a trailer that his company provided but purchased a larger one at nearly VND20 million ($782.1). 

His trailer has been used for two years. It is still new and can be used for many additional years.

He cannot afford a larger one.

Pickups cannot enter small alleys, so their drivers have to park the vehicles at the entrances of the alleys and walk to collect garbage.

These pickups are worth hundreds of millions of Vietnam dong each and drivers have to have certain driver’s licenses, S. shared. (VND100 million = $3,910).

T.V.T., a garbage collector in Thu Duc City, said he spent VND18 million on his garbage trailer and had done the job for over a decade with his monthly salary reaching VND8 million ($312.8).

At the beginning, he used a trailer provided by his company but it was broken, so he bought a new one.

T. claimed that all garbage vehicles have bags hung around to contain scrap. He earns some VND100,000-200,000 ($3.9-7.8) per day by picking up scrap while collecting trash.

He would find it hard to afford another vehicle, unless he receives support from his company or the state, T. said.

An alley on Kha Van Can Street in Ho Chi Minh City fits a small garbage vehicle.

According to a company selling garbage vehicles, a 500-kilogram garbage pickup costs over VND400 million ($15,633).

They cannot turn around in narrow alleys.

Bui Hoa An, deputy director of the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Transport, told Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper that rudimentary garbage vehicles may hinder traffic as most of them fail to meet the standards.

The city has had plans to restrict rudimentary three- and four-wheel vehicles since 2010 and expected to completely terminate the operations of these vehicles after 2025. 

Many garbage collectors add iron hooks to hang bags of trash.

Many residents still use untested rudimentary vehicles for travel and transport, posing a danger to others.

The department requested the administrations in Thu Duc City and districts to deal with the situation.

Responding to garbage collectors’ questions on how to transport trash from narrow alleys, An said the municipal government had tasked the Department of Natural Resources and Environment with studying solutions.

A degraded vehicle full of garbage runs on Pham Van Dong Street in Thu Duc City, under Ho Chi Minh City.

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