VietNamNet Bridge – The garbage dump in Hoang Cau, Hanoi, has been the home to hundreds of rubbish collectors for several decades. These people collect waste from Hanoi’s streets and bring waste to this place, turning it into a rubbish dump.


This site is more than 1,000sq.m. It is situated near Hoang Cau Lake. The site is surrounded
by high-rise building and is fenced so people do not know about this slum.






There are five rows of temporary houses on stilts, made of wood and formworks.
Under the floors is waste. They live as simple as they can, without radio or television sets.






This woman and her grandchild live in this 5sq.m room. The room has only several pots and an old fan.






Next to this room, Mr. Thai, 39, lives in a room which is enough for a sedge mat.
The man has to cook outside.





The slum has around 300 people, who come from Nam Dinh and Thanh Hoa provinces.
They earn their living from selling waste and rags. They live and work all the year round
in dark and dirty conditions. They only return home during several days of Tet (lunar New Year).






This man leaves his family in Thanh Hoa to work for a waste trader in Hanoi.
His job is shaking plastic bags and packing them. He earns VND5,000 for one kilo.


















Most of the residents there are women. They work free for Hanoi’s street-sweepers
to be allowed to collect glass and plastic bottles and plastic bags from waste trucks.
“Some workers give us some money. Others only allow us to collect waste for them.
But that’s lucky for us,” said Ms. Tam, 52.






They live with waste all the year round and they do not want to see outsiders
because “we always dirty.”






At 10am, this site is still bustling. Some return with waste. Many people will return at 1-2am.
They often take breakfast at 9am and the dinner at 1-2am.






Some women live with their kids here, ignoring threats of diseases from waste.


VNE