Many Saigoneers will celebrate Tet by returning home, traveling to an exotic corner of the globe, or simply breathing in enormous lungfuls of the fresh air of a city with millions fewer residents.
Saigon's sanitation workers, however, will have no such luxuries. VnExpress reports that the government-owned Ho Chi Minh City Urban Environment Co., Ltd. (Citenco) has tasked its 2,000 employees to work throughout the Tet holiday.
They will alternate day and night shifts on January 22–29, while local residents are currently producing 50% more waste on a daily basis than during normal weeks — nearly 13,000 tons per day.
"During the peak days on January 22–29 the sanitation workers will have to work three to five times harder than normal," company director Cao Van Tuan told the news source. "We have to make sure all city streets are completely clean on Lunar New Year's Eve and the first day of the New Year."
Much of the collected waste will be assembled on Tong Van Tran Street in District 11 and Quang Trung Street in Go Vap District, so fair warning to those living nearby. These sites are expected to handle around 4,000 tons of garbage per day.
Elsewhere in town, 40 sanitation workers have been assigned to pick up trash along the popular Nhieu Loc-Thi Nghe Canal, as well as the Tan Hoa-Lo Gom Canal, which passes through Districts 6 and 11, as well as Tan Binh and Tan Phu.
According to VnExpress, Citenco has also dispensed VND2.1 billion (US$90,459) to its employees for Tet gifts.
Spare a thought for your neighborhood garbage collectors this holiday.
[Photo via Nguoi Lao Dong]
