Slowly pushing a garbage cart stacked higher than her head along Hai Phong Street one day in May, Ong Thi My Linh, 48, a worker with the Thanh Khe Environmental Team, says her daily shift begins at 5 a.m. and lasts until late afternoon, yet "the garbage never seems to end."
At many places, people dispose of trash indiscriminately, taking her more time to collect, but then any delay in collection triggers complaints on social media and the city's public feedback channels, she laments.
Sanitation worker Ong Thi My Linh during her shift in Da Nang City, May 2026. Photo by VnExpress/Nguyen Dong.
The 20-year veteran at the job says she handles around 11 large 660-kg garbage bins a day, with the number sometimes rising to 15.
Lately, the volume she collects has reached eight tons a day, including domestic waste, construction debris, and abandoned furniture such as old mattresses and beds.
