VietNamNet Bridge - A lot of people have become rich by running garbage collection rings, considered valuable assets transferred from generation to generation.

Hung, the owner of a garbage collection ring, said he has the right to collect garbage from 754 households. Every household has to pay VND30,000 a month to have garbage collected and taken away.

Garbage collection rings are expensive to buy in HCMC. Hung said in 2012, he bought the garbage ring for VND1 billion. “The price now must be higher,” he said.

Hung hires six workers and two pick-ups to organize the garbage collection. 

“This is a good job, though it is harmful to your health,” he said. “The junk we get from waste classification alone is worth hundreds of thousands of dong. If we did not undertake this job, we would become jobless.”

As garbage rings are considered valuable assets, the owners of the rings rarely sell the rings, but transfer to children or relatives.

A lot of people have become rich by running garbage collection rings, considered valuable assets transferred from generation to generation.

Hung said some people wanted to buy his ring at VND1.3 billion, but he refused. “You won’t be able to buy such a good ring in the future, even if you have money,” he explained.

The trade of garbage rings is not made in the open air like other commodities, but the market is bustling because of high demand. 

A ring with revenue of VND50 million a month would be traded at VND1-1.2 billion, depending on the areas. “The rings in central areas will be more expensive,” he said.

“In our world, many ‘bloody battles’ take place to scramble for more lucrative areas. A lot of people hunt for garbage rings for re-sale,” said B, who is an ‘influential woman’ in the garbage world as introduced by Hung. 

“The price of the rings has been escalating since 2000. It is not easy to acquire garbage rings, even if you have big money, because there are not many sellers,” B said.

B reportedly once owned three garbage rings in district 12. However, one ring had to stop operation as per the local authorities’ command.

Most of the transactions in the garbage market are made under unofficial forms and verbal agreements. 

LTC, the owner of a garbage ring in Binh My commune of Cu Chi district said he bought the garbage ring in 2015 from NTC from Tay Ninh province at VND575 million. 

And this was just a verbal agreement. The other ring was offered at VND600 million, but no one wanted the ring.

The price of garbage rings is not stable, but tends to increase because of rapid urbanization, under which more people migrate to urban areas and more new houses are built. 

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