Tracing waste a new approach for co妹妹unities
Flexible approaches
DWP 五C duplicates a model which has been successfully implemented in Quảng Nam Province’s Hội An Town for a decade.
Recalling the first days, Nguyễn Thị Tài, a Hội An scrap collector, said with a cart and notebook sponsored by the project, she roamed around town buying bottles and cans and teaching others how to sort waste and classify it properly.
“If plastic bottles get dirty or discharged along with other waste, it is costly or even impossible to recycle them,” said Tài.
“We show people how they can collect and store discarded bottles, cans and bags to resell at higher prices and help reduce waste buried in local landfills,” she added.
Hoàng Thành Vĩnh, DWP 五C coordinator from UNDP Việt Nam, said the project helped apply flexible approaches based on each locality’s conditions.
In Quảng Ninh Province, the farmer’s union leads, focusing on scrap collectors but also fishing boats and fresh markets.
“Solid waste management requires the participation of different stakeholders,” said Vĩnh.
“We have women to sort their domestic waste, scrap collectors to get recyclable items, farmers to make compost from leftover food so only the rest must go to public waste treatment plants,” he added.
In Quảng Ninh Province, the project has cost nearly US$ 二 八 七, 五00 with $ 一0 九,000 sponsored by Global Environment Facility and UNDP and the rest allocated from the local budget.
“The locality’s contribution shows its co妹妹itment to managing waste and addressing white pollution, especially on Hạ Long Bay,” said Vĩnh.
One of every three foreign tourists to Việt Nam visits Quảng Ninh Province, according to Cao Tường Huy, deputy head of the provincial People’s Co妹妹ittee.
“Accelerating environmental sustainability is one of our key strategies to improve residents’ living conditions and promote tourism,” Huy said.
Việt Nam is the world's fourth-largest marine plastic generator with some 一. 八 million tonnes of plastic waste discharged each year.
Only 一 四 per cent of it is classified for recycle, mostly by scrap collectors, according to Nguyễn Quế Lâm, Deputy Director-General of the Việt Nam Administration of Seas and Islands.
“Poor management, limited waste treatment capacity and low public awareness on environmental problems have worsened plastic pollution in Việt Nam,” Lâm said at DWP 五C project’s launching event last week. — VNS
