300,000 ‘Recycled’ Condoms Were Almost Sold To People

Last month, Vietnam confiscated over 300,000 used condoms for sale.

The used condoms were almost given a dangerous and ill-advised second chance at life thanks to an illegal condom “recycling” operation in Vietnam.

Footage broadcast by state outlet Vietnam Television (VTV) showed dozens of large bags containing the used prophylactics scattered across the floor of the building in Binh Duong.

After receiving a tip from a local resident, police in the province of Binh Duong raided a warehouse on Saturday, where they confiscated nearly 800 pounds worth of bags filled with roughly 320,000 recycled condoms. The condoms had been boiled, dried, reshaped with a wooden prosthesis, and were going to be put up for sale. Officers arrested the warehouse owner, a 34-year-old woman who said she received a monthly delivery of used condoms from an unknown person, and that she was paid 17 cents for every two pounds of condoms that she recycled.

It was not clear how many of the recycled condoms had already been sold, VTV reported, but it has been claimed that they were being traded in local markets.

The provincial market management director said the condoms had been confiscated as evidence but would be disposed of immediately after as they are considered hazardous medical waste. 

Much about the operation is still unknown, like how long it was in business, how many of the recycled condoms had already been distributed, and who exactly was involved.

The recycled condoms were described as “very dangerous to society” by Anh Nguyen, an obstetrician from Dak Lak, who explained to the Times that reusing condoms could “spread sexually transmitted diseases such as syphilis, gonorrhea and possibly H.I.V.” and that this kind of recycling “must be prevented.”

Juliet Richters, a sexual health expert and honorary professor at the University of New South Wales, told the Times that while it’s “not impossible to wash a condom,” she’s never heard of it happening “on an industrial scale.”

It follows previous warnings of an abundance of counterfeit and low-quality condoms in Vietnam.

Notably, in 2014, a United Nations Population Fund report warned that some 40 per cent of condoms for sale - some of which used counterfeit branding to dupe customers - failed quality control tests, leaving users more open to infection and pregnancy.