From Boat Escape to “King of Trash”: The True Story Behind the Documentary About David Duong

A documentary titled The King of Trash is bringing new attention to the extraordinary life of Vietnamese American entrepreneur David Duong, a journey that began with a dangerous escape by boat and nights spent searching through garbage bags in San Francisco just to survive.

The film chronicles Duong’s unlikely rise from refugee to sustainability leader, tracing a story that spans war, migration, and the rebuilding of a life from the ground up.

Long before recycling facilities and city contracts, Duong’s family arrived in the United States with almost nothing. Seventeen relatives crowded into a small apartment in San Francisco’s Tenderloin neighborhood. To help the family survive, they spent long nights collecting bottles, cardboard, and other recyclables from the streets.

“We found treasure in garbage bags,” Duong recalls. “And we turned that into gold.”

The King of Trash looks back even further, to Vietnam before 1975, when Duong’s father, Jim Tai Thu Duong, operated one of South Vietnam’s largest paper recycling companies. But the fall of Saigon changed everything.

Forced to flee their homeland, the family escaped by boat and eventually resettled in the United States. The transition was difficult and uncertain, but Duong remembers his father repeating one simple lesson. There is dignity in every kind of honest work.

That message shaped everything that followed.

Years of saving and relentless effort eventually allowed the family to open their first recycling business in the United States. After selling that company, Duong launched his own operation in 1992 with just eight used trucks and a determination that surprised even industry veterans.

Waste management may not be glamorous, but Duong understood something others overlooked. Cities depend on reliability.

Route by route and contract by contract, he built what would become California Waste Solutions, a family owned recycling company serving major cities including Oakland and San Jose.

But as The King of Trash shows, the story is not really about garbage.

It is about grit.

The documentary captures the skepticism Duong faced in the early years, the risks his family took, and the quiet determination that allowed them to turn hardship into opportunity.

Years after rebuilding his life in America, Duong also returned to Vietnam with a desire to contribute. Through large scale environmental projects, he helped introduce modern waste management systems to Ho Chi Minh City, becoming a bridge between the country he fled and the country where he rebuilt his life.

Family remains at the center of the story. In an industry dominated by large corporations, the Duong operation continues to be deeply family driven, with siblings working together across leadership roles.

Their philosophy is simple. Nothing should be wasted. Not materials. Not opportunities. Not people.

For Duong, the documentary is less about recognition and more about preserving a story that might otherwise fade with time.

“This story is not just ours,” he says. “It belongs to every immigrant family that started over.”

The King of Trash captures the boat escape, the crowded apartment, the long nights of survival, and the steady determination that carried the Duong family forward.

It is a story about resilience, reinvention, and the unexpected places where opportunity can begin.

And sometimes, what the world throws away becomes the very thing that builds a legacy.