Vietnam has started a series of measures to reduce plastic waste, it was reported at a talks on the environment and plastic waste in Ho Chi Minh City on June 13.
HCM City (VNA) –Vietnam has started a series of measures to reduce plastic waste, it wasreported at a talks on the environment and plastic waste in Ho Chi Minh City onJune 13.
Nguyen Thanh Lam from theVietnam Environment Administration (VEA) said plastic waste, including nylonbags, accounts for 5-10 percent of daily solid waste, or about 1.5 milliontonnes a year.
Statistics of Ho Chi Minh City’sStatistics Offices showed among 8,900 tonnes of solid waste discharged in thecity each day, about 1,800 tonnes are plastic waste, with only 200 tonnesrecycled, while the remaining is buried along with other solid waste.
Director of the waste managementdepartment under the VEA Nguyen Thanh Lam said the Ministry of NaturalResources and Environment is pushing ahead with the implementation of theNational Strategy on integrated management of solid waste to 2025 with a visionto 2050. The strategy sets the goal of having all shopping centres andsupermarkets use environmentally-friendly nylon bags instead of conventionalones.
The ministry is alsocoordinating with other ministries, agencies and localities to tighten controlof the import of plastic waste into Vietnam, along with strengtheningmanagement of plastic recycling villages and building policies to gather small-scalerecycling facilities into industrial parks.
The country will also work togradually reduce and finally end the import, production and supply of conventionalnylon bags for daily use at shopping centres and supermarkets by 2026.
Vietnam is also receivingsupport from international organisations in limiting plastic waste. TheERASMUS programme of the EU has sponsored a project on recycling plastic wastein Southeast Asia, which will be carried out from October 2017 to October 2020,involving universities and industrial partners from Laos, Vietnam, Denmark,Germany and Austria.-VNA
Collective action from the Vietnamese government, the private sector and consumers is essential to combat one of the great environmental challenges facing the world, the excess of plastic waste in oceans and water sources, a United Nations (UN) official said on June 6.
A campaign to promote the fight against plastic waste and release of aquatic species to the nature was launched in Phu Quoc island district of the southern province of Kien Giang on June 8.
Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc emphasised the need to take practical and concrete measures to control and reduce plastic waste while launching a national campaign on plastic waste prevention in Hanoi on June 9.
A seminar in Hanoi on June 10 highlighted the fact that existing policies and laws on plastic waste management have yet to match this type of waste’s impacts on the environment and human health.
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Vietnam's economic losses from natural disasters are estimated to account for 1 to 1.5% of GDP annually - a steep price that will continue to rise unless the country takes strong action.
Wutip, the first storm in the East Sea so far this year, has wreaked havoc across central Vietnam, claiming lives, displacing residents, and causing widespread damage to houses, crops, and infrastructure, the Department of Dyke Management and Disaster Prevention and Control reported as of 6:30 pm on June 13.
The tremor occurred at 7:39:46 am (Hanoi time), with the epicentre located at latitude 14.924°N and longitude 108.236°E, at a depth of approximately 8.1 kilometres. The natural disaster risk level was classified as 0 – the lowest on the scale.
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The dispatch noted that since the beginning of 2025, natural disasters have claimed 29 lives and left several others missing. A total of 67 houses have collapsed, and 2,342 homes have been unroofed or damaged.
Its Forest Protection Sub-department has applied various specialised software and information technologies in forest management and protection and fire prevention.
Illustrative image (Source: VNA) 
