A workshop to discuss the draft national strategy on reducing, reusing and recycling waste by 2020 was held on October 1 in HCM City.

All participants at the workshop agreed on the importance of the application of 3R solutions (reduce, reuse and recycle) in the strengthening of environmental pollution control. Classifying and reducing waste should be highlighted as a top priority task, while the heightening of the community’s awareness about its responsibility should be seen as the core solution.

Nguyen Trung Thang, Head of the Environment and Sustainable Development Department under the Institute for Natural Resources and the Environment, said that the solid waste volume was 17mil tonnes in 2007, but it is expected to be 50mil tonnes by 2020, or 1.3-1.5kg/head/day.

Thang said that only 15-20% of solid waste is classified, while the other 75-80% is buried. Waste classification has been implemented only on a small scale under trial projects in big cities like Hanoi and HCM City.

In order to deal with solid waste, Vietnam is considering utilising a new technology (Seraphin technology) to treat solid waste. If the new technology can be utilised successfully, Vietnam will be able to recycle up to 90% of waste.

Participants at the workshop also agreed that policies on recycling and reusing waste should be promulgated by 2010 instead of 2020 as stipulated in the draft national strategy on reducing, reusing and recycling waste.

They said that the lack of a legal framework on this issue has made investors hesitant about implementing projects on classifying waste for recycling.