Not enough garbage bins on Saigon's streets

Actually, garbage cans are often not needed - because of the army of 'old ladies' in the recycling business.

If you have a spare half-hour, drop a newspaper on the street as you go into a cafe for a coffee and watch the newspaper - I doubt it will be there when you finish your coffee.

Same with almost anything - my laser cutting business has lots of unusable off-cuts but dumping them on the kerb sees them disappear within minutes. The water cutting business hands a variety of metals and we, in the shop, sort out the different metals and we then sell them to dealers who specialise in certain metals.

What about all those plastic bottles you see plaguing the streets of many cities in other countries? Do you see them here in VietNam? Every day, opposite the Majestic Hotel, a woman rows her skiff on the SaiGon River with her FEET whilst her hands wield a net to scoop all the empty bottles from the water.

These 'garbage pickers' then take their hauls down to a 'wholesaler' who buys the materials by weight.

Bottles are treated at a location in Quan 8. All the screw tops (and their bases) are removed and the clear plastic is washed in the river water followed by a good chewing and cutting process in a machine. The plastic remains, shaped like small diamond shapes, are laid out on the public side-walk to dry. They are then bagged, by weight, and sold to plastics moulders. The caps and cap bases are treated similarly, although their destination is for a different use.

The streets of most VN cities are clean of garbage found in other country's cities, the street sweepers clean up the 'dust' and the bags of household garbage.

P.S. Have you seen any country other than China where they recycle foam drink and food containers?