Overloaded landfills in Thanh Hoa
Over the past time (especially before and after the 2026 Lunar New Year), people in many localities such as Sam Son ward, Dong Quang ward, Bim Son ward (Thanh Hoa province) expressed frustration because the landfills are overloaded, piled high into mountains, causing serious odor and water pollution.
Typically, at the landfill located next to the Do River (Sam Son ward), it has been overloaded, causing serious pollution for many years. The stench from the landfill directly affects people's lives, especially households near this area.
Faced with the above situation, on January 31, 2026, Thanh Hoa Provincial People's Committee decided to close the Sam Son ward landfill to gradually thoroughly treat environmental pollution.
Similarly, the Nui Voi landfill (Bim Son ward) has also been overloaded for many years, causing people living near this area to be upset about odor and water pollution.
Not only the two landfills above, Dong Nam landfill - the largest in Thanh Hoa province - has also become a "hot spot" many times due to overload and pollution. At the beginning of the 2026 Lunar New Year, people of Hanh Phuc Doan residential group set up camps to block garbage trucks, causing garbage in 7 central wards to be congested for many days.
Difficult problem of waste treatment in Nghe An
Over the past time, people in residential group 4, Anh Son commune, Nghe An province have repeatedly reflected on the serious environmental pollution caused by a large amount of garbage trucks from many places continuously pouring into this area.
According to reports, the large-scale landfill is located close to residential areas, less than 100 m from people's houses, near hospitals and schools, causing odors, flies, mosquitoes and leachate affecting hundreds of households.
Leaders of Anh Son commune said that during Tet, the amount of garbage increased sharply, causing slow treatment, leading to stagnation. Currently, the situation has temporarily stabilized, but in the long term, fundamental and modern waste treatment solutions are needed.
This issue involves many problems, including funding" - representative of Anh Son Commune People's Committee said.
Not only in Anh Son, the pressure of waste treatment is being placed in many localities in Nghe An province. Dong Vinh landfill (Vinh Hung ward) used to be a place to receive waste from Vinh city. To date, the landfill has closed, but there is still a large amount of garbage left untreated.
After that, all domestic waste is transported to the Nghi Yen Solid Waste Treatment Complex, located in Hai Loc commune, about 20km from Dong Vinh landfill. However, this landfill is also in a state of overload.
The problem of waste treatment costs
Many landfills in Thanh Hoa are overloaded for a long time, causing people to be upset, while domestic waste in many localities is often congested when landfills close or treatment plants stop receiving. This shows that waste treatment is still passive, lacking fundamental and long-term solutions.
One solution is to accelerate waste treatment plant projects. However, progress is still slow, such as the waste treatment plant project in Bim Son ward and the solid waste treatment plant in Nam Sam Son ward, which have not been completed for many years to put into operation.
Meanwhile, in Nghe An province, some waste treatment plants invested in modern technology are facing difficulties in operation.
Mr. Vy Van Quang - Chairman of Tan Phu Commune People's Committee - said that there is Tan Ky Waste Treatment Plant in the area with an area of more than 3.3ha, a total investment of over 160 billion VND, applying incineration technology and having a large treatment capacity. However, the biggest difficulty for the plant currently is operating costs.
According to Mr. Quang, the waste collection fee in the locality is currently only about 7,000 VND/person/month, while the support mechanism from the province is still low, not enough to cover operating costs. Therefore, the factory has to operate in moderation and suffer losses.
Mr. Le Van Hung - Head of Nghe An Sub-Department of Environmental Protection - said that waste treatment is still a difficult problem for many localities. Although the province has some modern technology waste treatment plants in Nghia Dan, Tan Ky..., most of them are not operating at full capacity due to financial difficulties, while Nghi Yen landfill - the largest in the province - is overloaded and mainly for landfilling.
To solve the long-term problem, Nghe An is implementing the waste-to-energy plant project at Nghi Yen landfill invested by Galax Joint Stock Company, with a total capital of more than 3,100 billion VND, expecting to reduce landfill pressure and modernize waste treatment.
