Three days after irate locals blockaded Hanoi's biggest landfill, the stench of rotting garbage piles is forcing commuters to pinch their noses tight. 

Uncollected garbage had piled up over 1.5 meters high and about 100 meters long on Tran Huu Duc Street in Nam Tu Liem District by Monday morning. The garbage has not been collected for three days.

For three days now, this area has had no sanitation workers coming to collect the garbage and take it to the Nam Son waste treatment plant in Soc Son District. Residents of the district’s Nam Son and Hong Ky communes have gathered to block trucks from entering the waste treatment complex, blaming local authorities for slow compensation to relocate from the area.

The protest ended at 8 p.m. Monday, after trash left on streets in the four districts of Hoan Kiem, Ba Dinh, Hai Ba Trung and Dong Da had amounted to about 10,000 tons as of Monday night, according to the Hanoi Urban Environment Company (Urenco). This has been stored on carts and covered with tarpaulin and powdered lime to try and prevent the odors from spreading outside.

To reduce the malodor, an environmental worker sprinkles powdered lime on the garbage piles.

Residents near Nam Son waste treatment plant have been living with the odor, flies and other environmental and hygiene problems for years. The complex, which began operations in 1999, treats 6,000 tons of trash a day. City authorities have announced plans to relocate people living within 500 meters of the plant and paying them compensation, but the process has been too flow and the compensation too little, residents have said.

On Doi Can Street, an urban environmental worker pushes garbage bags dumped by residents over the past three days.

"I had to dump garbage from one cart to another, and then continue collecting around Van Cao Street. Yesterday (Sunday), there was more garbage than this," said Thu, a sanitation worker.

A pile of trash lies strewn along the pavement beneath a "No Garbage" sign on Doi Can Street. This is the second time in 2020 and the 15th time the last few years that residents of Soc Son District have blocked all roads leading to the waste treatment complex.

Full trash carts and piles of garbage can be seen on Thanh Ha Street.

A man on a scooter adds a bag of trash to the pile on Truong Chinh Street.

Garbage has piled up along both sides of Truong Chinh Street.

A man covers his nose while passing by the piles of garbage on Tay Son Street.

A street corner in the Nga Tu So area in Dong Da District.

Vuong Dinh Hue, the City Party Committee Secretary, has instructed relevant authorities to dissuade people from blocking the road to the treatment plant and to support them by providing medical insurance and clean water while working to resolve the compensation and resettlement issues.