On Thursday morning, trash was heaped into long rows along Bai Sau Beach, spreading out on both sides of the Tam Thang Tower.
Four days earlier, large patches of floating debris offshore drifted in with the rising tide. The phenomenon repeated over the following days, causing the volume of waste to build up.
Bai Sau, or Back Beach, was recently renovated after nearly a year of construction at a cost of VND1.1 trillion (US$41.7 million).
Before that, workers from Vung Tau Urban Environment and Public Works JSC had already gathered some of the trash, but had not yet been able to transport it away.
By Wednesday night, waves pushed in an entirely new layer of waste, creating even more accumulation.
Water hyacinth, plastic bottles, nipa palm husks, large tree trunks, even mattresses and tarps, drifted ashore.
Tan, a resident of Vung Tau Ward, said he has bathed at Bai Sau daily for more than 20 years but has never seen trash levels this severe. According to him, the waste not only makes the beach unsightly but also turns the nearshore water murky and debris-filled, taking away any sense of comfort while swimming.
A group of young people had to weave their way through mounds of trash just to reach the water.
Tran Thu Phuong, from downtown Ho Chi Minh City, said she felt sad and regretful seeing her familiar relaxation spot now blanketed in garbage, forcing her to leave the water just minutes after entering.
Le Thi Sau, 70, wearing a blue shirt, and her relatives had to rake the trash into piles just to set up seating for customers. After more than 40 years doing business on the beach, she said she has never seen such severe accumulation.
"We clean one day and by the next day it piles up again, smelling awful and scaring away customers," she said.
Every year, Vung Tau beaches typically face 2–3 waves of drifting debris lasting 5–7 days. But this year, ocean waste has appeared in more frequent waves and in much larger volumes.
Nguyen Xuan Hau, deputy general director of Vung Tau Urban Environment and Public Works JSC, said storms combined with high tides may have broken up "trash rafts" in rivers around Ho Chi Minh City and the Mekong Delta, sending the debris out to sea before it drifted into Bai Sau with ocean currents.
More than 30 workers, along with nearly 20 pieces of machinery, including excavators, loaders, sand sifters and 12 trucks of 10–15 tons, were mobilized to collect over 400 tons of waste.
Hau said this is the most unusual and largest wave of debris Bai Sau has received since the start of the season.
Heavy machinery has been operating continuously to clear waste whenever the tide recedes.
According to the company’s leadership, the total volume of trash this time is estimated at over a thousand tons. Cleanup depends heavily on the tide: when the water rises, machinery cannot access the shoreline, and the amount of accumulated waste is far too large to collect manually. The beach is expected to be fully cleared in about two days.
