HCMC – The Central Highlands province of Lam Dong has approved a project worth more than VND48 billion (over US$2 million) to isolate and shut down the polluting Cam Ly waste dump in Dalat City.
Until 2022, the province will level the waste dump, which spans more than 10 hectares in Ward 5, and cover it with plastic sheets and then soil. Grass will be planted at the site to create a green space.
The province will also build a 1,450-meter-long protective dyke, a water treatment station capable of treating 50 cubic meters of leachate a day and a tank capable of storing 360 cubic meters of leached water to ensure environmental protection for the area.
Dalat City, one of the most well known attractions in Vietnam, collects and treats more than 200 tons of garbage a day. The waste is transported to the Dalat waste treatment plant in Xuan Truong Ward, which was put into operation in 2015, for treatment.
Put into service in 1976, the Cam Ly waste dump is the largest landfill in the city and is located 5 kilometers from Dalat downtown. Since 2003, the waste dump has been overloaded and causing serious pollution.
Many incidents have occurred at the waste dump, such as fires and the collapse of mountains of trash. Last month, flooding and heavy downpours led to a thousand tons of trash from a 60-meter-high hill percolating into the surrounding valleys, burying local people’s flower, coffee and vegetable gardens and setting off a horrible odor.
Despite causing serious pollution, the Cam Ly waste dump has not been shut down until now because the Dalat waste treatment plant is not capable of treating the increasing amount of garbage generated as a result of the rising number of tourist arrivals to the city.
