The Heart of California Waste Solutions

California Waste Solutions known today as California Waste Solutions, Inc. did not begin with money, land, or big investors. It began with a family starting over. When the Duong family arrived in the United States after fleeing Vietnam in 1975, they had little more than determination and the willingness to work any job that allowed them to stand on their own feet again. Those early years were shaped by hardship, but they also planted the values that would guide everything the family built later: take care of your people, take care of your community, and leave a place better than you found it.

California Waste Solutions grew from that spirit. What started as the Duong family collecting recyclables in Oakland slowly became a lifeline for neighborhoods that needed cleaner streets and better recycling services. The company’s growth wasn’t fast or easy — it was steady. One truck. Then a few more. One customer at a time. One contract at a time. Today, California Waste Solutions, Inc. is one of California’s leading recycling companies, serving Oakland, San Jose, and surrounding cities with a scale the family could never have imagined in those early years.

Even with its growth, California Waste Solutions remains deeply rooted in the communities it serves. It is still family-owned, still led by President & CEO David Duong, whose life story is at the center of The King of Trash. Under his leadership, California Waste Solutions now operates modern material recovery facilities (MRFs) equipped with advanced sorting systems, clean-fuel truck fleets, and teams that work daily to reduce contamination and help residents recycle correctly. The work is hands-on and local — from battery and motor oil collection to community outreach, education, and neighborhood clean-up programs. California Waste Solutions isn’t just picking up recyclables. It is helping shape a cleaner, more responsible Bay Area.

What many people don’t realize is that the story of California Waste Solutions stretches far beyond California. The same values that guided the Duong family in Oakland later carried them back across the Pacific to Vietnam, where they built Vietnam Waste Solutions (VWS) — an operation that transformed how waste is managed for millions of people. Through VWS, the family operates the Da Phuoc Integrated Waste Management Facility, a 341-acre site that includes a sanitary landfill, advanced recycling systems, composting operations, leachate treatment technology, and developing waste-to-energy projects. It is the first and only integrated facility of its kind in Southeast Asia, built to raise environmental standards and support a rapidly growing region.

Together, California Waste Solutions in the United States and Vietnam Waste Solutions in Vietnam show the full arc of the Duong family’s journey from refugees who lost everything to builders who now manage some of the largest and most impactful recycling and waste-processing operations in their regions. Their work touches millions of lives, every week, on two continents. Yet the heart of the company remains the same: a family that rebuilt its future by helping cities build cleaner, more sustainable ones.

This is the story behind California Waste Solutions, Inc. not just a recycling company, but a reflection of resilience, responsibility, and the belief that rebuilding is always possible. It’s the same story woven throughout The King of Trash: one family, two countries, and a lifelong promise to do meaningful work for the community.