Story of Garbage Mitsuki Teranishi

By: Mitsuki Teranishi

Photograph by: Mitsuki Teranishi

Story of Garbage

Every day we produce garbage.

Little but certainly.

Bit by bit, it builds up.

Even dust, will become a mountain,

when it is piled.

Where will all these go?

The garbage we leave on

our front door.

Gets picked up by these

ladies.

Who carry

them all day

long. On those

heavy carts. Their salary, 60 thousand VND per day.

Until there is no possible

space for more,

they keep collecting and

collecting.

The waste of others,

Our garbage.

With lots of time, effort and cooperation all of this is

collected in a day.

It’s these ladies' job to go through all the garbage and

take what they could sell for recycle.

Lan: 62 years old.

“When I’m lucky,

I earn 100VND a

day.”

Taken to

these shops

and sold.

Cardboards:

3 thousand/kg

Water bottle:

8 thousand/kg

Cans:

300 dong/ can

Everyday,

50 people

come to

sell.

In 3-4 days,

the rooms are

filled up with

all sorts of

garbage.

Cardboard

Cans

Bins

Plastic bags

Bottles

Then it gets

taken to the

South of Ha-

noi.

The trucks

usually leave

early in the

morning at

4am.

So they could

get back

straight to

work that

day.

All the other trash that doesn't get pick

up by the ladies, go on a different car

ride to the North of Hanoi. To a place

called Bac Ninh City.

The trucks go in to this area of the town, drop off all

the garbage in the truck and come back with more.

No entries unless employed but the strong odor coming

from the other side tells it all.

Hundreds

of trucks

every day.

Coming in

and out of

this town.

With loads

of garbage

on them

Translation: The south waste treatment: Soc Son—Hanoi

The green

leaves being

destroyed by

the dust and

pollution the

trucks bring.

Roads being

constructed

for the bumps

created from

the trucks.

All the garage left behind in the

village. Right next to the rice

field

______ 21 years old:

“The wind and the

water and the food all

changes because of

the garbage. I have a

baby in my stomach

and I am worried for

her”

That small effort...

Could change it all.