A trash pile on the sidewalk of Vo Nguyen Giap Street, along the East Sea, at noon on May 25. By around 3 p.m. the same day workers had cleared it, as the street draws many tourists who walk, exercise, and go to the beach.
Waste dumped by residents has spilled from the sidewalk into the road in front of alley 83/1 Hoang Hoa Tham Street in Thanh Khe Ward. The spot has been an illegal dumping hotspot for years.
Hoa, a resident at 83/1 Hoang Hoa Tham, said the trash has at times spread from the sidewalk into the road in front of Chinh Trach Parish Church and the Tan Chinh Cultural Center. The main cause, he said, is households from nearby alleys bringing their waste out to dump there.
Along Hoang Sa and Vo Nguyen Giap streets in Son Tra Ward, long stretches of sidewalk have become household trash dumps, with waste from seafood restaurants producing a strong stench. Mornings and evenings, walkers and cyclists hurry past these sections. The area has few public bins.
Next to the hotel at 84 Vo Nguyen Giap Street, garbage piles stretch from a vacant lot out onto the sidewalk, forcing tourists to walk between foul-smelling bins in the sweltering midday heat.
The grassy stretches along the Han River have also become dumping grounds, with people leaving trash after stopping to rest and take in the view.
Many residents habitually carry their household waste to bins placed along the street. "If I leave it in front of my own house, plenty of other people will come and dump their family's trash there too," one resident said.
Most public bins are overflowing, with garbage spilling out as it waits for sanitation workers. Many bins are placed in the road itself, obstructing traffic.
According to a report from Da Nang's Department of Agriculture and Environment, household waste in the former Da Nang City currently ranges from 1,600 to 1,700 metric tons a day and rises sharply during tourist season and the Tet holidays.
Elsewhere, bins lie tipped over with waste flung across sidewalks and vacant lots rather than placed inside, leaving the area a mess.
Many designated waste-sorting points have also turned into general dumping sites for nearby households, marring the urban landscape.
A vacant lot on Le Van Luong Street, at the foot of the Son Tra Peninsula, has become a dumping ground. Troops of monkeys frequent the area, and uncollected waste could draw them to scavenge, altering their behavior and raising the risk of disease.
Illegal dumping has spread onto the Son Tra Peninsula itself. Along the road from the Naval Region 3 Infirmary toward Yet Kieu Street, at least three construction-debris dumps were recorded. Nguyen Huu An Street, near a land-reclamation project behind a five-star hotel along Da Nang Bay, also has multiple dump sites.
At night, makeshift dumps across the city center accumulate every kind of waste. Pictured is a pile of garbage at the entrance to alley 149 Le Dinh Ly in Hoa Cuong Ward at 8:30 p.m. on May 25.
At a May 22 meeting on overhauling waste collection, transport, and disposal across wards and communes in the former Da Nang City, Vice Chairman Tran Nam Hung criticized the responsible agencies for letting trash accumulate.
He directed wards and communes to publicly name illegal dumpers over local loudspeakers and to issue fines via surveillance camera footage.
