Several Vietnamese cities are striving to recycle and reuse waste, with waste a growing concern in the country and around the world.

Inside a factory that turns plastic waste into electricity in Vietnam 

Waste is an environmental problem, especially in big cities, and as living standards improve, more waste is generated.

Economic development and population growth are increasing household and medical waste in Vietnam’s cities more rapidly than in many other countries.

About 5,400 tonnes of solid household waste are generated in Hanoi each day, with the figure in Ho Chi Minh City some 8,300 tonnes per day, which forecasts say will hit 13,000 tonnes by 2025.

However, up to 90 percent of solid household waste in Hanoi and 76 percent in HCM City is still buried. The rest is burned, recycled or converted into organic fertiliser.

Temporary landfill sites are already overloaded, and the environment will be seriously affected unless advanced technologies are applied.

In Hanoi, the municipal Party Committee is aiming to treat some more solid waste with technology and to bury less waste.

The capital city plans to start construction of a waste treatment factory using high technology in Bac Son commune of Soc Son district in the third quarter of 2017. This plant is set to treat 4,000 tonnes of waste a day.

Also, the Construction Department of Hanoi plans to submit a roadmap for applying advanced solid waste treatment technology to the municipal People’s Committee in the first quarter of next year, aiming at a lower volume of buried waste.

HCM City authorities meanwhile encourage investors to use modern waste treatment technologies to reduce the rate of buried waste to 50 percent in 2020 and 20 percent in 2025.

At a recent meeting with Governor of Sweden’s Ostergotland county Elisabeth Nilsson, Chairman of the Hanoi People’s Committee Nguyen Duc Chung said one of his city’s top priorities is to apply modern European technologies in environmental improvement.

Hanoi plans to have a waste-to-energy plant in 2019, and it will seek private investment in waste treatment, he noted.

VNA