OAKLAND, Calif., Oct. 9, 2026 (SEND2PRESS NEWSWIRE) — California Waste Solutions, Inc. has received messages of support and congratulations from business partners, lenders and civic figures as it approaches its 35th anniversary in 2027. The letters and comments arrive as the Oakland-based company increases investment in recycling technology and pursues environmental infrastructure projects abroad.
Image caption: David Duong, Founder of California Waste Solutions, addresses attendees at a Vietnamese American Business Association (VABA) event celebrating 50 years of the Vietnamese American community in the United States and honoring its journey of resilience, achievement, and gratitude to America.
The recognition follows recent coverage of California Waste Solutions’ investments, including artificial-intelligence scanners at a Bay Area recycling plant, industrial drones being prepared for use at a landfill in Ho Chi Minh City, and a proposed waste-to-energy facility in Vietnam expected to require more than $500 million in investment. The company has also recently introduced audiences to its origins through screenings of the documentary The King of Trash.
The California equipment is being installed. The Vietnam waste-to-energy project remains a proposal, and drone operations are subject to the required flight permits and operator certification.
“There’s nothing like getting feedback from your customers and partners, and what we’ve had lately has been a surprise, even to me,” said Michael Duong, President of California Waste Solutions. “To be congratulated by such honest, successful names in business means a lot for everyone in this company. That is especially true for the workers who put so many tireless hours into providing a top-of-the-line service every day.”
Behind the company’s growth are generations of employees whose work has kept recycling services running across Oakland and San José. From collection crews and equipment operators to maintenance technicians, sorting teams, and customer service staff, their experience has helped California Waste Solutions maintain its daily operations while adapting to changing recycling requirements and technologies. As the company approaches its 35th anniversary, that workforce remains central to both its service record and its plans for the future.
Founded in Oakland in 1992 by David Duong, California Waste Solutions serves more than 343,000 residential, commercial and municipal customers in Oakland and San José and operates six Bay Area facilities. Its services include recycling collection, processing, material recovery and customer service, as well as household-battery and used-motor-oil collection. The company will mark its 35th anniversary in 2027.
A LARGER LEGACY AHEAD
“Thirty-five years is long enough to establish a legacy, but it is also early enough to imagine a much larger one,” said James Carter, president of Yellow Electronics in San Jose. “The relationships, operating knowledge, community trust, and workforce experience built over decades can become a platform for continued improvement. … the anniversary creates a strong platform from which to make that next chapter deliberate rather than accidental.”
At the 10th Street material recovery facility in Oakland, the company is installing EverestLabs artificial-intelligence scanners on the container line. The scanners identify and count items headed for disposal, providing a continuous record of material flow.
At the Timothy facility in San José, California Waste Solutions is expanding the capacity of Pellenc optical sorters already in use to improve the recognition of targeted commodities and the purity of material prepared for market. The company has used optical sorting in its U.S. facilities since the mid-2000s.
On September 10, 2026, the City of Oakland said it had begun using Aerbits aerial imagery to identify illegally dumped waste rather than relying solely on 311 reports. California Waste Solutions, the city’s recycling contractor, provided trucks to remove some of the dumped material.
California Waste Solutions founder David Duong has said that addressing illegal dumping can improve the quality of material entering the company’s recycling facilities. Business partners have welcomed these initiatives as California Waste Solutions continues investing in recycling technology and services to meet changing industry demands.
Erik Larsen, an Oakland business partner, described the recent upgrades as part of a longer-term strategy of investing ahead of changing industry needs.
“Innovation rarely happens in isolation. Better equipment, technology, processes, safety practices, and environmental performance all depend on outside expertise as well as internal leadership,” said Larsen. “The willingness to learn from partners and invite new ideas has helped California Waste Solutions continue evolving rather than relying only on what worked in the past.”
Rick Perez, president of KGEL Steel Inc. in Riverside, offered a similar perspective as a vendor.
“California Waste Solutions’ growth has … supported an ecosystem larger than the company itself,” Perez said. “Remaining relevant over 35 years … requires more than doing the same work longer; it requires learning and investing.”
LOCAL KNOWLEDGE AND DECADES OF INVESTMENT
In Vietnam, wholly owned subsidiary Vietnam Waste Solutions operates the 128-hectare Da Phuoc Integrated Waste Treatment Complex in Ho Chi Minh City. The facility was developed using sanitary-landfill technology modeled on U.S. Environmental Protection Agency standards. Designed for capacity of up to 10,000 tons per day, a figure equivalent to approximately 70% of the city’s municipal solid waste according to the project description, it has operated since November 2007. The company describes Da Phuoc as the only facility of its kind in Vietnam applying these standards.
Vietnam Waste Solutions expects industrial drones to begin regular flights at Da Phuoc following approval of flight permits and operator certification. The drones are intended to spray biological treatment products over active waste-receiving areas, landfill cells and other odor-sensitive zones. Each aircraft can carry up to 10 liters of solution and fly for approximately 15 minutes. The proposed approach is intended to reduce workers’ direct exposure to treatment chemicals.
Alex Nguyen, identified in the correspondence as a manager at VinFast Auto LLC, offered a personal perspective on founder David Duong’s longstanding emphasis on improving the company’s operations.
“A founder’s greatest contribution is often the standard established at the beginning, and that standard has shaped California Waste Solutions for decades,” Nguyen said. “Recycling today requires better data, better technology, stronger education, and constant attention to the quality of the material moving through the system.”
Vietnam Waste Solutions is also proposing a waste-to-energy plant designed to process 3,000 tons of waste per day and generate 60 megawatts of power, using equipment sourced from G7 and G8 countries. The proposed plant is intended to support Ho Chi Minh City’s 2030 climate objectives and Vietnam’s national 2050 net-zero target.
Beyond Da Phuoc, the subsidiary is advancing the 1,760-hectare Green Environmental Technology Park, a project licensed in 2015 and envisioned as a Vietnam–U.S. green industrial complex rather than a conventional land-lease development.
Mark Holmstedt, president of Westhoff, Cone & Holmstedt in Alamo, said the company’s advantage is increasingly institutional.
“Looking forward, the company’s strongest advantage may be the combination of local knowledge and decades of experience,” Holmstedt said. “Those qualities can support smarter decisions, more effective outreach, stronger partnerships, and continued innovation.”
Those assessments accompany a separate record of charitable giving. In a letter dated March 26, Lloyd Minor, dean of Stanford School of Medicine, thanked David Duong for a gift to the Research Fund for Dr. Aijaz Ahmed. Minor wrote that the support “empowers our researchers, faculty, and students to imagine and bring to fruition scientific discoveries that enhance our understanding of biology, advance patient care, and prepare future leaders in biomedicine.”
Since 2020, the company has made more than 100 donations, including COVID-19 relief contributions and school scholarships.
SUCCESS DESPITE OBSTACLES
For California Waste Solutions founder David Duong, the approaching anniversary carries personal significance. After arriving in the United States as a Vietnamese refugee, he built the company from its beginnings in Oakland in 1992 into a family-owned recycling business serving communities across the Bay Area, later expanding into environmental infrastructure in Vietnam. His journey reflects decades of persistence and investment, as well as a belief that business success carries responsibilities beyond the company itself. The messages received ahead of the anniversary recognize not only the company’s development but also the relationships Duong has built throughout his career.
Several of those messages reflect on Duong’s journey from refugee to entrepreneur and his investments in environmental infrastructure in Vietnam.
Venerable Chan Phap Tu, principal dharma teacher at the Enlightenment Buddhist Center in Novato, described Duong’s investment in Vietnam as a contribution to the country’s waste-management infrastructure.
“You were the first son of that land who brought the [Da Phuoc] landfill knowhow to the country at the moment nobody [was] thinking of an organized and civilized society as it should be,” he said. He also cited Duong’s account that at least 70 percent of Ho Chi Minh City’s population benefits from the facility, recognizing the work “despite of a lot of obstacles you have overcome.”
Timothy Linh Bui, a San José film producer and director, reflected on Duong’s experience in a recent letter to the company.
“Your journey — from surviving as a refugee and coming to America as an immigrant to building California Waste Solutions into what it is today — is powerful proof that the American Dream is still alive and strong,” Bui wrote. “Environmental work requires patience because the results are created through millions of repeated actions. Better sorting, lower contamination, improved recovery … all contribute incrementally.”
As California Waste Solutions approaches its 35th anniversary, the company is preparing for its next chapter through new recycling technologies, continued municipal service in the Bay Area, and proposed environmental infrastructure investments in Vietnam. For David Duong, the milestone is also an opportunity to recognize the employees, families, business associates, and communities whose relationships with California Waste Solutions have developed over more than three decades.
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 operates large-scale environmental infrastructure in Ho Chi Minh City. Headquarters: 1211 Embarcadero, Suite 300, Oakland, CA 94606. https://www.calwaste.com/
ABOUT VIETNAM WASTE SOLUTIONS
Vietnam Waste Solutions is the wholly owned Vietnamese subsidiary of California Waste Solutions and the operator of the Da Phuoc Integrated Solid Waste Facility serving Ho Chi Minh City. Da Phuoc was developed as Vietnam’s first sanitary-landfill model based on U.S. Subtitle D 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. Vietnam Waste Solutions is advancing the proposed 50- to 60-megawatt Da Phuoc waste-to-energy project and continues development of the Long An Green Environmental Technology Park.
MULTIMEDIA
Image link for media: https://www.Send2Press.com/300dpi/26-1009-s2p-dduong-300dpi.webp
Image caption: David Duong, Founder of California Waste Solutions, addresses attendees at a Vietnamese American Business Association (VABA) event celebrating 50 years of the Vietnamese American community in the United States and honoring its journey of resilience, achievement, and gratitude to America.
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MEDIA ONLY CONTACT:
(not for print or online)
Wendy Nguyen
PR & Marketing Manager
California Waste Solutions
wendynguyen@calwaste.com
+1 (415) 740 1580
News Source: California Waste Solutions
