On many sidewalks, street‑side tea vendors collect fallen leaves, scrap paper and plastic, pile them together and set them on fire. Vacant lots and abandoned sites are also used for the same purpose, and sometimes the fire is lit in children’s playgrounds within residential complexes. These practices are visible to anyone moving through the city.

During seasonal transitions and after harvests, the smoke from burning rice straw in Hanoi’s suburbs and neighboring provinces can blanket the whole city. In the two weeks before the Ghost Month festival, families burn large amounts of votive paper, filling narrow alleys and crowded neighbourhoods with smoke. The resulting haze is a persistent, murky sky that is not natural fog.

According to the author, these everyday burning practices add significantly to air pollution, worsening air quality in residential areas. The cumulative smoke exposure poses public‑health risks and reduces residents’ quality of life. Although motorbikes, cars and factories are often blamed, minor activities like waste‑burning also contribute notably to the problem.

If Hanoi wants to become truly livable, it must address not only traffic and development but also the smoke that comes from daily fires. Reducing these routine burns could improve air quality and protect the health and daily life of the city’s people.