WASTE ISSUES IN VIETNAM

The CHD’s staff attended a seminar on the Polluter Pays Principle (PPP) which was conducted by the Vietnam Union of Science and Technology Associations (VUSTA) together with the Center for Environment and Community Research (CERC) on July, 24 2018. This seminar is one of a series of events that aim to exchange knowledge about managing waster, particularly domestic waste, in Vietnam. Polluter Pays Principle (PPP) is a new concept and it can be defined as follows “PPP is used to allocate the budget for the prevention and control of pollution. It is applied to encourage appropriate unitization of scarce resources and avoid impacts on international trade investment”.

The seminar provided participants with the opportunity to share their experiences about waste management in Vietnam.

Issues raised included that,

a)      Waste is not currently classified as a resource

b)      The Government must cover the expenditure for collecting and processing rubbish

c)      Residents lack knowledge about the disposal of household waste

d)      The legal system covering waste management is not comprehensive enough

e)       Use of science and technology in processing waste is currently limited. Burning and burying are the two main methods for processing rubbish in Vietnam. There are two main problems associated with these processes these are: 1) Burning waste pollutes the air with potentially hazardous gases; 2) Burying waste uses up too much scarce land and may pollute underground water sources.

VUSTA is the main agency that regulates science and technology organizations and they emphasized to participating organizations that they should:

a)      Advocate for comprehensive legal system that regulates the management and disposal of waste

b)      Apply technology to classify, collect and process waste

c)       Educate residents about how to reduce household waste and how to dispose of it correctly

Some photos of this seminar: Click here

Van Nam

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