According to the owner of a garbage collection ring in Binh Thanh District in HCM City, the right to collect garbage in certain areas is traded in the underground market.


A garbage collection ring, which can bring turnover of VND20 million a month, would be valued at VND200-300 million.

Khanh, who has “taken over” a garbage collection ring in charge of collecting garbage from 400 households in Hoc Mon District, said he has to spend VND500 million to buy the ring.

He said that the the rings that collect garbage in areas where there are many restaurants and hotels would be too expensive to buy.

“I heard that there are some tycoons who hold dozens of garbage rings and the right to manage garbage collection in many districts in the city,” he said.

“The garbage rings are considered the tycoons’ valuable assets which can be bequeathed to their children and children,” he added.

Though no management agency certifies the ownership of “garbage rings”, the ownership still exists in reality as private assets and ruled by “unwritten laws”.

Running garbage collecting rings has become popular in HCM City.

Vuong, 58, said that he previously lived in Binh Duong and ran a garbage ring of providing services to 500 households. As the ring later fell into the hands of a local official, Vuong and his family members had to move to HCM City to find a new ring.

Vuong revealed that he has bought a ring in district 4 at VND210 million, which is enough for the whole family to live on.

In general, the “masters” of the rings only “work at the office”, while the workers who work on the sites and collect garbage are the hired laborers from other provinces and localities.

Many garbage-collection tycoons in HCM City can reportedly buy villas and luxurious cars with the money from garbage collection.

In HCM City, Nam Dau was a well known name among garbage collectors as the “garbage king”. In his golden age, he lived well on income from the dozens of rings in the city. Other people, who envied Dau’s good business, worked with him to topple him. Dau finally had to give up his profitable business.

When asked about the income from garbage rings, T, who was the “garbage king” in districts 3, 6 and Tan Phu, said he could earn at least hundreds of millions of dong a month.

“The struggle for money is always a struggle with bloodshed,” he commented.

However, T said he has sold his ring for VND1 billion because he does not want his children to continue his business.