Description

Nguyễn Thượng Hiền, Deputy head of the General Department of Environment, under the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources (MONRE), expressed his opinion on achievement and further measures needed to eliminate plastic waste in Vietnam, in an interview with Vietnamplus.

The achievements include the specific and practical activities from the Government, related ministries, and residents in Vietnam in raising awareness and actions to reduce single-use plastic and pay more attention to recycling and reuse. Besides, some laws and regulations have been approved to decrease the plastic waste amount and promote recycling, processing plastic, and handling problems of marine plastic. Highlights of the success are the following examples: many supermarkets have committed and taken action to ban single-use plastic bags and utilized leaves for packaging purposes as alternatives. Or an alliance of businesses against plastic waste was established including major manufacturing and retail distribution companies.

However, further measures are needed to achieve the elimination of single-use plastic by 2025. Specifically, it requires guidance documents to implement the revised Law on Environment 2020 in terms of reducing consequences of waste, esp. plastic waste. Other actions are promoting enterprises and people to invest, produce, use environmentally friendly materials and reuse, recycle, and develop a circular economy. In addition, the regulations should consider recycling obligatory duty for relevant organizations and individuals. Measures also include the increase in scientific research, application, and transfer of technologies.

Source & further information: “Việt Nam races to curb plastic waste” at https://vietnamnews.vn, accessed on 16 June 2021