Description

About one-third of 520 households living near the Bình Tú (open) landfill in Phan Thiết city have suffered serious pollution from the mismanagement of this “landfill” for years. The 26-hectare landfill receives daily about 400 tons of domestic waste and applies almost no treatment technologies. Waste is dumped directly into the compartment and often burned openly. The landfill was expected to be closed in 2017 once the waste treatment plant for the city is complete. However, it has become overloaded and caused serious pollution. In the meantime, the waste treatment plant has been not put into operation. The reason for this is the lack of expense for the operation of the plant and difficulties in getting the approval for environmental requirements from the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment (MONRE).

The construction of the Phan Thiết started in 2016. The has a total investment of 495 billion VNĐ and was constructed in an area of 10 hectares in Tiến Bình village, Tiến Thành commune. It has a treatment capacity of 400 tons of domestic waste per day and is expected to handle the waste generated from the city and Hàm Thuận Nam district.

This situation shows the chronic weakness of domestic waste management and importantly the lack of responsibilities in investment and competence of supervision.

Related article:
Quảng Trị: waste incineration plant abandoned after one-month operation 

Sources & further information: “Nhà máy rác xây xong đóng cửa nằm chờ” at https://nld.com.vn and “Mong sớm đóng cửa bãi rác Bình Tú” at https://baobinhthuan.com.vn, accessed on 25 April 2022.