California Waste Solutions Expands Global Environmental Investment With More Than Half a Billion Dollars Proposed for Waste-to-Energy Project

Oakland recycler California Waste Solutions anchors U.S. operations while expanding waste infrastructure and environmental technology in Vietnam through Vietnam Waste Solutions

OAKLAND, Calif., Oct. 7, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- California Waste Solutions, Inc. is extending its environmental work across the Pacific, pairing recycling operations in Oakland and San Jose with large-scale waste infrastructure and technology investment in Vietnam through its wholly owned subsidiary, Vietnam Waste Solutions.

The approach follows the operating principle that has guided the company since David Duong founded California Waste Solutions in Oakland in 1992 with eight used collection trucks. That principle centers on investing in systems that protect public health and recover value from waste.

"Investing heavily in the places you operate is one of the core differentiators of California Waste Solutions and its Vietnamese subsidiary. It's not just something we do: it's part of our core values," said David Duong, Founder and CEO of California Waste Solutions.

These investments reflect the long-term vision of David Duong, founder and owner of California Waste Solutions and Vietnam Waste Solutions: to build environmental infrastructure that serves cities today while preparing for their future needs. Since establishing California Waste Solutions in Oakland in 1992, David Duong has developed a business spanning municipal recycling in California and integrated waste treatment in Vietnam. His approach connects investment in collection and processing with systems that recover materials, reuse treated water and generate electricity from waste. At Da Phuoc, the proposed waste-to-energy facility would extend that work through additional treatment capacity and energy recovery. Together with the Green Environmental Technology Park, it carries David Duong's vision into projects intended to support Vietnam's urban growth and long-term environmental needs.

U.S. Operating Base
Headquartered in Oakland, California Waste Solutions serves more than 343,000 customers across Oakland and San Jose and operates six Bay Area recycling facilities. The company provides collection, processing, material recovery, customer service and municipal recycling programs, including household battery and used-motor-oil collection and multilingual recycling education.

It continues to invest in sorting technology and facility capacity in California, including optical sorting in San Jose, artificial-intelligence scanning in Oakland, and the expansion of curbside household battery collection to San José homes. The company enters its thirty-fifth year in business next year.

"Thirty-five years is not just about how much the company has grown," Duong said. "It is about the employees who helped build it, the cities that trusted us and the communities that gave our family an opportunity to build a new life in America. Our responsibility is to keep earning that trust."

Da Phuoc Integrated Waste Treatment Complex
Through Vietnam Waste Solutions, California Waste Solutions operates the Da Phuoc Integrated Waste Treatment Complex on 128 hectares in Ho Chi Minh City. It is the only waste treatment facility in Vietnam that applies sanitary landfill technology in accordance with U.S. Environmental Protection Agency standards. Designed with a capacity of up to 10,000 tons per day, equivalent to approximately 70% of Ho Chi Minh City's municipal solid waste, Da Phuoc Integrated Waste Treatment Complex currently receives approximately 4,500 to 5,000 tons per day, based on the city's waste allocation.

Da Phuoc runs as a closed-loop system under strict environmental controls. Infrastructure includes:

• A landfill gas-to-energy plant that collects methane through wells in the sanitary landfill and delivers it by pipeline to gas handling systems. The plant can generate up to 12 megawatts, supplying power for operations at the complex.
• A leachate treatment plant with capacity of 3,000 cubic meters per day, using a membrane bioreactor that combines biological treatment with membrane filtration. It was the first facility in Vietnam to apply this technology and is equipped with automatic, continuous, real-time wastewater monitoring. Treated water is reused for onsite irrigation and for washing waste-collection vehicles.
• A sorting and recycling plant with capacity of 600 tons per day, together with compost production from organic waste.

Helping Vietnam Achieve Net Zero By 2050

In line with the government's roadmap for a green transition and a circular economy, Vietnam Waste Solutions is in the stages of applying for permits to expand its waste-to-energy systems. The plan is expected to contribute meaningfully to helping Vietnam achieve its net zero target of 2050.

The new waste-to-energy project is planned as a new investment, separate from capital already committed to the existing Da Phuoc complex. It is expected to require a total investment of more than half a billion dollars, with processing capacity of 3,000 tons per day and electricity generation of 60 megawatts, using advanced technologies from G7 and G8 countries. The project aims to reduce ash and residue remaining after incineration to about 5 percent, a target that depends on advanced incineration technology and tight operating controls. The remaining ash and residue will then be recycled into construction materials and other supplementary fuels.

The project has completed the documentation, technical and financial planning, and technology selection stages. Once investment-policy approval is received, construction is expected to begin, with the project becoming operational within 18 to 24 months, supporting Ho Chi Minh City's Net Zero 2030 goal and the city's near-term waste-treatment needs.

Vietnam Waste Solutions also plans to excavate, sort and process waste already stored at the landfill, then cap the site and rehabilitate the surface for a mixed-use ecological park for the local community.

"The visionary leadership of Ho Chi Minh City is building an environmentally sound future, and it's a great pleasure to work with them on these objectives, especially with the economy so strong right now," said Michael Duong, President of California Waste Solutions. "We are really excited about the new waste-to-energy plant expansion, having already proved that it works at a much smaller level over the past few years for our own plant."

The company is also preparing to transfer sorting and recovery practices used in California, including AI- and robotics-assisted recycling, to raise material recovery and processing standards in Vietnam. At Da Phuoc, high-capacity drones for sanitation and odor control are scheduled to begin operation in October 2026, spraying biological treatment products across the landfill and reducing workers' direct exposure to treatment chemicals.

Green Environmental Technology Park
Beyond Da Phuoc, Vietnam Waste Solutions is advancing the Green Environmental Technology Park, a 1,760-hectare project licensed in 2015 and planned as a Vietnam–U.S. Green Industrial Technology Complex. The project is designed to connect waste treatment with high-tech manufacturing, clean energy, telecommunications, environmental infrastructure and an internal cargo transshipment port, rather than function as a conventional land lease.

The aim is to build a U.S.-standard investment environment in Vietnam that helps tenants lower operating costs and meet ESG requirements. Plans also include high-quality housing and vocational schools to support a skilled local workforce. Infrastructure work has begun, with further investment to follow the approved roadmap and investment policy, tied to development across Vietnam's Southern Key Economic Region.

Taken together, the California facilities and the Vietnam projects are meant to show the same standard at two scales: proven municipal recycling at home, and long-cycle environmental infrastructure abroad.

"California Waste Solutions started locally, but has expanded globally over the years, and significant investment has gone into the maintaining the same high standards we started out with in Oakland at the start of our journey," said company founder David Duong. "Waste went from something no one wanted to talk about when we started out more than a quarter-century ago to something that now, everyone wants to talk about because they realize that how you handle it affects the environment in such a critical way. We are really proud to be one of the first in that respect, who saw it before many others did."

About California Waste Solutions
Founded in 1992 by David Duong, California Waste Solutions provides recycling collection, processing, customer service, and material recovery for residential, commercial, and municipal customers in Northern California, including Oakland and San José. Through its subsidiary Vietnam Waste Solutions, the company also operates large-scale environmental infrastructure in Ho Chi Minh City. Headquarters: 1211 Embarcadero, Suite 300, Oakland, CA 94606. www.calwaste.com.

About Vietnam Waste Solutions
Vietnam Waste Solutions is the wholly owned Vietnamese subsidiary of California Waste Solutions and operator of the Da Phuoc Integrated Solid Waste Facility serving Ho Chi Minh City. Da Phuoc Integrated Solid Waste Facility (DPI) was developed as Vietnam's first sanitary landfill modeled on U.S. Environmental Protection Agency standards. Existing operations include sanitary landfill management, recycling and material recovery, composting, leachate and wastewater treatment, treated-water reuse, landfill-gas collection and electricity generation. VWS is advancing the proposed 60-megawatt Da Phuoc waste-to-energy project and continues development of the Long An Green Environmental Technology Park.

Media Contact
Wendy Nguyen
PR & Marketing Manager
California Waste Solutions
[email protected]

SOURCE California Waste Solutions