VietNamNet Bridge – In the Phung Thuong Commune of Phuc Tho district, a big residential area of the capital city of Hanoi, there is a village where most of the residents have been earning their living with the “rubbish washing” career.

The village seems to be very quiet in the daylight, because local residents leave the village early in the morning and only return in the evening. Where do they go?

They go to any rubbish dumps they can find, where they scrounge garbage for plastic bags and dirty jute bags, which are then taken home. After that, they wash the bags, dry under the sun on the Highway No. 32, and package the “products” for sale.

The people, who earn their living with the rubbish washing, can pocket tens of thousands of dong only after a hard working day. The modest income is not high enough to cover their families’ basic needs, while they have to face high dangers, from the traffic accidents to the “dangerous working environment.”

The people say they well understand the risks hanging over their heads, but they still have to take this job, or they would die of hunger. It seems that the “exchange for money” of the people is very harsh.

In the last 4-5 years, those, who travel on the Highway No. 32, would feel surprised when seeing so many plastic bags, green, red or violet, covering the two roadsides, stadium and fields. The plastics can also be seen on the local rubbish dump, and on the big panel with the words “Giu gin moi truong” (protect the environment), from which the awful smell arises.

Local people also put the dirty plastic bags on the land plots, which have been reserved for building factories. The security guards here cannot prevent the people from drying the bags under the sun, because the people said they need to earn money.

Here in the area, the “rubbish washing machines” have been operating continuously, discharging mud and dirty water to the Tay Ninh canal, which was very clean in the past.

This is a truly a village full of rubbish. Nguyen, Chair of the Phung Thuong Commune People’s Committee, said that a high ranking official of the Hanoi authorities once called and complained about the dirtiness of the locality, saying that there were much more rubbish on the Highway No. 32 than any other rubbish dumps.

In other countries in the world, people are trying to eliminate plastic bags, because they cause serious pollution to the environment. Meanwhile, in Vietnam, there is a village, where people are living among plastic bags.

After the criticism, Phung Thuong commune’s authorities have been trying to persuade people to give up the job which brings high risks and modest income. However, local residents still turn a deaf ear to the call.

Local residents do not want to hear anything about their job. Especially, newspapers’ reporters are not welcome in the village. A group of Lao dong’s reporters was almost attacked when they tried to see with their eyes a rubbish washing machine. Meanwhile, the local authorities did not feel surprised when hearing about the attack attempt.

Not only the press-gang, but normal people in the village also did not want to talk with journalists. A local resident frankly said that newspapers may lead them to losing the career and bread.

Where would the washed plastic bags go? Local residents would sell the “products” at 3000 dong per kilo. The trucks would come from Hung Yen province to take them. People buy the “products” to make plastic consumer goods, which is thought to bring fat profits.

Source: Lao dong