As tragic as it is to see people siphoning through garbage to find something to sell for some money, this is something that is very common in Vietnam. I have seen it everywhere that I go in this country: There are people that ride around on bicycles and go through all the rubbish bins as well as stuff on the side of the road looking for cans, cardboard, and other things so they can ride over to the collection area which is also in this part of town to get a small amount of money.
I have heard from several of my friends that this is why they do not use the recycling bins that the city has placed around the neighborhood. By doing so we are taking potential money away from the people that need it the most.
Unfortunately, piles of trash on the side of the road is an extremely common sight here in Da Nang and for the most part nobody really seems to care. They actually do have waste management trucks that come by every other day or so, but unless the garbage is in the government approved bins that the machine can auto lift into the back of the truck, the trash collectors won't have anything to do with it. Is this laziness on their part? Or is there some other reason? Regardless, these people on the scooters, bicycles, and even on foot can be spotted basically around the clock as they go through trash in the hopes of finding an aluminium can or a pizza box.
To me, I find it it more than a bit disgraceful that people would just dump their trash on the side of the road and that nobody ever does anything about it. Seriously, this city, once you get just a little bit away from the tourist beach areas, is basically just one gigantic trash dump. Whether or not there is an actual dump somewhere or not I have no idea. I presume there is but if you have never been here and heard stories about how Vietnam is one of the largest polluters in the world, I can tell you that I have seen it with my own eyes and it is definitely true.
In the meantime though, I guess I am happy that we have these people walking around to at least get some of it out of the way. I put all of my cans and cardboard to the side in my own condo and will sometimes go down to the street to have a beer at these benches that we have outside of my apartment building and wait for one of these mostly women to come by. They are always quite appreciative to get a bag full of cans yet for some reason, they are completely disinterested in any sort of glass. Glass doesn't seem to be recycled here at all, which I find strange because I was always under the impression that it was one of the easiest of all items to be recycled.