HCM City (VNS/VNA) -Scientific and technological advances stimulate demand for newer models ofelectrical and electronic products and disposal of outdated ones, which requireproper recycling.

Ten universities in Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoiare carrying out programmes to improve students’ knowledge of the harm causedby e-waste and encourage them to dispose of their waste in dustbins forrecycling.

They are cooperating with the Vietnam Recyclesprogramme instituted by the Vietnam Recycling Platform (VRP), a consortium ofleading producers of electrical and electronic equipment founded to reduce electronicwaste, enhance recycling and manage the environmental, health and safetyimpacts of products at their end of their life cycles.  

Vietnam Recycles employees visit theuniversities to collect the e-waste and transport it to partner factories forsafe disposal.

Le Thi Minh Hanh, a student at Hoa SenUniversity, one of the 10, said: “I have several discarded electronic andelectric products. I often put them in my mother’s box in our warehouse becausewe do not know where to dispose or recycle them.”

Hanh has recently brought the trash to theuniversity to dispose in the recycling dustbins after she came to know theuniversity was collecting e-waste.

Assoc Prof Dr Bui Xuan An, head of GreenUniversity Project at Hoa Sen University and vice chairman of the VietnamBiogas Association, said the amount of e-waste collected and recycled in thecountry is very low.

“The remains are discarded indiscriminately,causing environmental pollution and harm to the next generation.”

Assoc Prof Dr Pham Van Tat, head of Hoa Sen’senvironmental engineering faculty, said e-waste consists of tin, copper andother metals, which are oxygenated and absorbed into soil and water when theyare discarded in rubbish dumps, causing harm to human health.

“When collected, these metals are sorted andused by factories. Hazardous substances are treated.”

According to the World Health Organisation,“Children are especially vulnerable to the health risks that may result frome-waste exposure and, therefore, need more specific protection.

“Children may be exposed through dump siteslocated close to their homes, schools and play areas.”

Mai Thi Thu Hang, business development managerat Reverse Logistics Group which runs Vietnam Recycles, said that thecollection and recycling programme is in the pilot phase in Hanoi and HCM City.It began in 2015, she said.

“That year 850 kilogrammes of e-waste werecollected. The figure has now increased to more than 10 tonnes.”

Besides the university campuses, many dustbinshave also been installed at many ward-level people’s committees andwholesaler Mega Market.

Vietnam Recycles also sends workers tohouseholds in the two cities to collect e-waste, she said.

People can call a hotline at 0933882205 orcontact via email or Facebook when they have large electronic equipment or 10small pieces of equipment to discard, she added.

Dr Nguyen Duc Quang of the Hanoi University ofTechnology told the Government portal that the country’s e-waste is increasingby 100,000 tonnes annually, mostly from households, offices and illegal importswhich comprise defective and discarded products from other countries.

According to An of Hoa Sen University, importingsuch wastes should be prevented through a comprehensive legal framework.-VNS/VNA