The current situation of heavy pollution in plastic recycling villages
Located next to National Highway 5, about 18km from Hanoi, Minh Khai village has long been considered the second largest plastic and nylon waste recycling village in the Northern region. The whole village has more than 580 locations in operation, receiving 700 to 1,000 tons of scrap per day. About 700 households do work related to plastic production, recycling, and trading.
The 2024 survey identified two seriously polluted areas as the road to Minh Khai Industrial Cluster Phase III and the Minh Khai village landfill with a total volume of solid waste remaining more than 150,000m3.
It is noted that from National Highway 5 to Minh Khai, there is a scene of plastic waste piled up on both sides of the road for hundreds of meters. At the village's welcome gate, garbage surrounded and overflowed into a bridge across the Dai canal. The transformer station and electric pole in the village are surrounded by garbage, posing a high risk of fire and explosion. Both sides of the road leading to the ecological urban area of Nhu Quynh are also packed with waste such as nylon, plastic pallets, plastic pipes, tires, plastic wires, etc.
In the village, "umscrappe mountains" and black canals appear in many locations. The trees were covered with a layer of dust and waste. The types of scrap are purchased from many provinces, cities and abroad for preliminary processing and recycling. The recycling process requires a large amount of water to wash, then dry and cook, causing pollution at most stages.
It is estimated that the amount of waste remaining in Minh Khai is about 100,000 tons, buried in ponds, canals and village edges.
For more than 10 years, people have been concerned about the situation of young children suffering from respiratory diseases, the elderly having a prolonged cough, polluted well water, and unusually dead fish. However, there have not been strong enough measures to completely address pollution in the area. Although Hung Yen province has applied a number of solutions, the pollution situation has not been completely handled, continuing to affect public health.
Last October, the Working Group of the Economic Police Department, Hung Yen Provincial Police suddenly inspected two scrap recycling facilities. Both facilities were discovered to have discharged wastewater that had not been treated into the common drainage system, did not have environmental licenses, did not build a centralized wastewater treatment system and violated many regulations related to environmental protection. The owner of the facility was identified as Mr. Nguyen Van Luyen and Ms. Nguyen Thi Nga, both residing in Minh Khai village.
Ms. Nguyen Thi Thu, born in Minh Khai, shared that the villagers are helpless when living in an environment polluted by black smoke, the smell of burning plastic and dirty water.
The government implements inspection measures
At a recent meeting with the Department of Agriculture and Environment, Chairman of Hung Yen Provincial People's Committee Pham Quang Ngoc requested the unit to propose solutions to completely handle household waste, craft village pollution, and pollution in industrial clusters; at the same time, build a comprehensive system for clean water supply for rural areas according to the zoning area.
The interdisciplinary inspection team of the Provincial People's Committee has recently directly inspected the implementation of legal regulations related to environment, fire prevention and fighting, rescue, construction planning and power operation in Minh Khai industrial clusters and craft villages.
Many violating facilities were handled; some three-phase power supply transformer stations operating in violation of regulations were required to stop supplying electricity. The delegation also propagated and reminded establishments to only operate when they meet the conditions and have a license from a competent authority.
However, according to Hung Yen Provincial Police, many scrap production and recycling facilities in Minh Khai Industrial Cluster, Minh Khai Industrial Cluster expansion and in residential areas continue to discharge untreated wastewater and emissions, transferring solid waste to non-functional units. Activities that do not ensure fire prevention and fighting conditions pose many potential fire and explosion risks, negatively affecting the environment and people's lives.
The People's Committee of Hung Yen province requires that in the coming time, measures must be implemented synchronously to reduce untreated waste discharge. The provincial police will deploy a plan to block and inspect vehicles transporting scrap in and out of craft villages, strictly handling goods without invoices and documents and unknown origins.
Hung Yen Provincial Police and Nhu Quynh Commune People's Committee requested establishments in industrial clusters, craft villages and residential areas of Minh Khai village not to continue importing scrap for production, and temporarily suspend operations until conditions are met according to regulations.
