Pollution treatment in scrap recycling villages: Difficult but must be done

Phan Boi residential group has over 130 households working in collecting, classifying, pre-processing and recycling scrap, mainly plastic scrap. Most households take advantage of their family's residential land area, expanding their open space, agricultural land, traffic corridors, and irrigation works to build factories and warehouses for scrap. The cramped space, outdated production technology and almost no solutions for waste collection, treatment, and pollution reduction have been implemented, making the air in the residential area stuffy with dust, noise and the acrid smell from plastic recycling. The results of environmental monitoring in 2021 conducted by the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment show that soil and air samples in Phan Boi residential group have dioxin/furan indicators exceeding the permitted standards. This shows the serious level of pollution caused by scrap recycling here. In 2024, after checking compliance with fire prevention and fighting regulations, 116 scrap collection and recycling facilities in Phan Boi residential group were required to temporarily suspend operations by the ward. However, production activities here still continue normally, causing the environment to become increasingly polluted.

Scrap piled up on the traffic corridor in Phan Boi residential group

The scrap recycling facility of Ms. Le Thi Tuyen, Phan Boi residential group is always full of scrap. Plastic scrap is purchased from sources, then classified, processed and put into grinders. The finished products are sold to recycling facilities to become secondary plastic granules. Although it has been operating for many years, Ms. Tuyen's facility does not have any environmental licensing documents or records. Wastewater and waste from the profession are discharged directly into the environment without treatment, causing environmental pollution. In addition, the risk of fire and explosion is always lurking.

Grinding and crushing plastic scrap at the plastic recycling facility of Ms. Le Thi Tuyen, Phan Boi residential group

Ms. Le Thi Tuyen said: In 2024, the ward went to inspect and remind, and recently, the leaders of the residential group continued to come to propagate and popularize the province's policy of resolutely handling the environmental pollution situation here. I know that the operation of the facility is not in accordance with the law, causing environmental pollution, but to comply with the regulations or change jobs, I and other facilities are facing difficulties and have not been able to do so.

Unlike Phan Boi, scrap collection and recycling activities in Cam Xa commune are scattered in residential areas. The whole commune has 84 scrap collection, classification and recycling facilities, mainly concentrated in Bui village.

Collecting and transporting scrap in Cam Xa commune

The Provincial Party Standing Committee has issued Notice No. 2125-TB/TU announcing the opinion of the Provincial Party Standing Committee on environmental protection and treatment in the province (Notice No. 2125). Accordingly, My Hao town has 2 localities on the list that need to completely treat environmental pollution before September 30, 2025. They are Phan Boi residential group, Di Su ward and Cam Xa commune. The environmental pollution in these 2 localities is mainly caused by scrap collection and recycling activities.

Scrap sorting at Mr. Ly Van Nguyen's family, Bui village, Cam Xa commune

After receiving Notice No. 2125 of the Provincial Party Standing Committee and Official Dispatch No. 784/UBND-NNMT dated May 6, 2025 of the People's Committee of My Hao town, the People's Committee of Cam Xa commune reviewed and made a list of households producing, trading and recycling scrap. On May 7, 2025, the People's Committee of the commune developed a plan and established 2 working groups led by the Chairman of the People's Committee of the commune and the Vice Chairman of the People's Committee of the commune to review and inspect the current status of production, trading and recycling of scrap of all households in the commune.

The inspection content focuses on: Origin of land use; construction activities; business registration; tax declaration and registration; fire prevention and fighting; environmental permits; contracts for collection, transportation and treatment of production waste. In addition, the People's Committee of the commune photocopied the full text of Notice No. 2125 of the Provincial Party Committee Standing Committee and assigned the working groups to distribute to each household for propaganda and dissemination.

Scrap classification at the scrap collection and processing facility of Ms. Nguyen Thi Que's family

Comrade Pham Van Phuc, Chairman of Cam Xa Commune People's Committee, said: The commune's facilities mainly collect, classify, and process scrap. Through inspection, most households have fire prevention and fighting equipment in the production area, many households have opened fire prevention and fighting records. For waste after scrap processing, households transfer it to a unit in Hai Duong province for collection and treatment, but there is no contract according to regulations. Currently, the commune is making a list to classify according to information fields to find solutions to solve this problem. In the immediate future, for households using land illegally, the commune is determined not to confirm for households to apply for 3-phase electricity for production and review, handle, and enforce violations of Plan 93a of the Provincial People's Committee.

Scrap recycling brings quite high profits to producers and traders but leaves behind hot and urgent problems for the living environment, especially the risk of fire and explosion, environmental pollution. Land, water, and air in scrap collection and recycling areas are all polluted with many pollution indicators exceeding the permitted standards. Fires that have occurred in the province in recent years are mostly related to scrap recycling activities. It is time for more drastic and fundamental solutions to thoroughly resolve environmental pollution and ensure safety in scrap recycling.

Le Thu - Mai Nhung

Source: https://baohungyen.vn/xu-ly-o-nhiem-lang-nghe-tai-che-phe-lieu-kho-cung-phai-lam-3181217.html