The Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment will conduct inspections of the Vietnam Environment Administration along with 64 organisations and 10 departments relating to natural resources and the environment during the performance of legal regulations on environmental protection while importing waste as production materials.
Hundreds of used home electronics banned from import found in containers at Cat Lai Port in HCM City. (Photo: VNA)
Hanoi (VNA) – The Ministry of NaturalResources and Environment will conduct inspections of the Vietnam EnvironmentAdministration along with 64 organisations and 10 departments relating tonatural resources and the environment during the performance of legalregulations on environmental protection while importing waste as productionmaterials.
Among the 64 inspected organisations, 54 werecertified by the ministry as being eligible to import scrap as productionmaterials.
According to the General Department of Customs,in the first five months of 2018, Vietnam imported more than 2 million tonnesof steel, worth 744 million USD. The highest imports came from Japan with 564,000tonnes worth 200 million USD.
Speaking at the Government’s monthly pressconference in August, Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc demanded that “Vietnammust not become a landfill that will damage people’s living conditions and thecountry’s image”.
The Government leader ordered customsauthorities, the environmental ministry, the transport ministry, and local administrationswhose major ports struggle with scrap containers to review their policies andactivities, and to “learn their lessons” from having let the situation get outof control in the first place.
Minister of Environment and Natural ResourcesTran Hong Ha said the ministry is considering a total ban on the import ofscraps. Besides comprehensive inspections and a thorough revamp of scrap importpermit mechanisms, heavy fines and revoking business licences are all on thetable as possible solutions, he added.
What the country need is a complete reshufflingof recycling companies’ operations, which would require these companies toraise their standards and update their technologies with defined roadmaps fortransition, he said.
Vietnam would also need to introduce a nationalwaste system to improve the woeful rate of reuse and recycling, which would atleast help those in the recycled produce sector obtain sufficient domesticscrap supply, he suggested.–VNA
To prevent Vietnam becoming a destination for scrap from other countries, ministries, sectors and localities need to enhance coordination in managing scrap imports and use of scrap as production material, Minister of Natural Resources and Environment Tran Hong Ha has said.
Business associations have voiced their support for stricter management of scrap imports, but they also underlined the need to continue importing these goods to serve domestic production.
The General Department of Vietnam Customs will study and submit to the Ministry of Finance a proposal to the Government to restrict imports of scrap materials and move towards a ban on scrap imports to Vietnam.
Minister of Industry and Trade Tran Tuan Anh has issued a directive on enhancing State management of scrap imports in order to implement the Prime Minister’s guidelines on strengthening the management of the import and use of scrap.
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Hundreds of used home electronics banned from import found in containers at Cat Lai Port in HCM City. (Photo: VNA) 
