A recent report from the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment indicates that Ho Chi Minh City initially developed plans to classify waste in 1999.
During 2015-2016, the city began imposing waste classification regulations in six districts. The aim was to extend the model to all 24 districts from 2017.
However, the project quickly fell into obscurity as authorities failed to convince citizens or garbage collectors to sort waste into different categories.
At the time, Tran Anh Duc, 54, who lives in District 8, said he had heard on the news before the pandemic that HCMC residents would have to sort waste or face fines.
“But nothing happened and none of my neighbors sorted their waste, so I kept throwing everything into one bin.”
In 2018, Vietnam’s largest city announced plans to have all families sort their waste effectively by 2020, with fines imposed on those who fail to do so.
According to the plan, after 2020, all families, businesses and organizations in the city had to sort their waste into three categories: organic waste, recycled waste and others.
However, no progress has been made so far.
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A trash can with separate compartments for sorting waste on Nguyen Hue Street in downtown HCMC in 2017. Photo by VnExpress/Minh Nga |
Huynh Minh Nhut, Director of HCMC Urban Environment Co. Ltd, said: Vietnamese News Agency in a report released earlier this year, it said that in fact, many families in the city had sorted waste, but that during collection, sanitation workers usually grouped all types of waste together for easier transportation . This result gradually made people lose interest.
He explained that garbage collectors are not equipped with the appropriate equipment to ensure waste sorting and that their salaries are not sufficient to require them to carry out this additional task.
In 2006, Hanoi piloted a waste classification project in Hoan Kiem district.
With funds and support from the Japan International Cooperation Agency, the project aimed to reduce the amount of waste released into the environment and save on waste collection, transportation and processing costs.
Under the project, households in the district were given advice on how to segregate household waste into two types: organic and inorganic.
People had to throw away their organic waste every day from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m., then dispose of their inorganic waste only once every four days.
Vu Thi Que, 76, a former district official in charge of the project, said that for the first six months, waste classification was carried out according to regulations.
However, over time, sanitation workers began putting all kinds of waste into one cart, and as a result, fewer and fewer families separated their waste at the source.
After two years, when the pilot project ended, almost no one was sorting waste at source, she said.
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A sanitation worker collects garbage in Hanoi in 2020. Photo by VnExpress/Giang Huy |
Le Trong Sy, vice-president of Phan Chu Trinh ward in Hoan Kiem district, said: “At first it worked quite well, but later the plan revealed its limitations as most residents in Hanoi people live in narrow houses and keep inorganic waste in their houses for several hours. four days took up too much space and caused unpleasant odors [when the trash was food and drink packaging]”.
Da Nang rolled out its waste classification plan on a pilot basis in two neighborhoods in Hai Chau district in 2017.
In June 2018, more than 80% of families in these neighborhoods sorted their waste.
However, as the city expanded the pilot project to other neighborhoods, it failed to produce any efficiencies.
According to the Pollution Control Department of the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, source classification of waste has not worked because top-down implementation has been limited to encouraging people to to do and that the authorities have not resorted to any coercive measures.
The localities were also under-equipped with collection tools for each type of classified waste. In many cases, all types of waste are transported with the same equipment, in the same vehicles and are subject to the same treatment methods, so the classification no longer makes sense.
Hoang Duong Tung, former deputy director of the Vietnam Environment Administration at the ministry, said the experiences of countries that have successfully classified waste at source show that for this policy to work, it must be made mandatory and that those who break the rules should be fined. .
“Advanced countries build very clean waste collection areas, install cameras or have people stand there to monitor. Waste is sorted into bags of different colors,” he said.
Tung added that to make waste sorting as efficient as possible in Vietnam, it is necessary to clarify the responsibilities of all units involved in waste collection, transportation and processing to avoid wasting people’s efforts. local authorities who classified the waste. .
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Residents attend a workshop organized by Hanoi’s Dong Da district authorities to collect recycled waste in 2020. Photo by VnExpress/Tat Dinh |
The Ministry of Environment earlier this month ordered localities to begin implementing a new waste sorting policy into three categories no later than December 31, 2024.
In guidelines released on November 7, it announced that household solid waste should be classified into three categories: recycled waste, organic waste and other waste.
The Environmental Protection Law, which came into force last year, also gives sanitation workers the right to refuse to collect waste that has not been sorted.
The government issued a directive last year requiring households that do not sort their domestic waste to pay a fine of 1 million VND ($41) each time they do so.
However, the law remains only on paper.
