Urban waste is collected in Hanoi.

Luu Thi Thanh Chi, deputy head of the Hanoi Environment Protection Division, told reporters at a recent press conference that the municipal People’s Committee has approved a plan to reduce plastic waste in the capital.

It was the latest effort by authorities to combat "white pollution" in the city that sees about 80 tonnes of plastic and nylon bags discarded every day, not all of which can be properly collected or treated.

According to Chi, the Hanoi People’s Committee demanded that 100 percent of the city organisations stop using polyethylene (PE) plastic bags – the most common type but takes the longest time to decompose – and single-use plastics products from November.

The committee also set the goal of reducing the number of plastic items which are hard to recycle and decompose used in those organisations by 80 percent.

Public servants, meanwhile, were encouraged to convince their family members to not buy single-use plastic items and nylon bags.

The city’s Department of Natural Resources and Environment has signed a plan with the Department of Education this year to roll out a programme to collect, categorise and recycle milk cartons and plastic straws in schools, Chi said.

The programme was carried out in 637 schools across 16 districts and townships in the city, she added.

According to a 2015 study by the Hanoi-based Centre for Environment and Community Research, household waste reached 27 million tonnes and sustained an increase of 5 percent a year./.

Hoi An intensifies fight against plastic wastes

All agencies, organisations and schools in the central province of Quang Nam’s Hoi An City have been asked to quit the use of single-use plastic items and nylon bags for their activities by the year-end.

Municipal Party Secretary Tran Anh has issued a directive on reducing and controlling the use of plastic products in order to help the environmental protection.

All local agencies, organisations and schools have been instructed to stop using single-use plastic products at their meetings and events.

Under the directive, by late 2021, shops, single-use plastic items will not be used at markets and submarkets in Hoi An.

The city has set a goal to reduce the use of plastic products by an average 13-15% per year. By 2025, the locality will completely put an end to the single-use plastic use.

Every day, around 100 tonnes of domestic rubbish are discharged in Hoi An with 20% of this being plastic waste.

Cam Ha dumping site overloaded following its incinerator closure in October 2018.

Cu Lao Cham, or the Cham Islands, in Quang Nam Province is a pioneer in eliminating the use of plastic bags and most single-use plastic. Dtinews/VNA

Hanoi People's Committee stops using single-use plastics

The capital city has asked all of its organisations and agencies to refrain from using plastic bags and single-use plastics starting from this month, a city environment official said on Tuesday.

Vietnamese students make paving materials from plastic bags

Five students from the Hanoi-based Transport University have successfully produced a street paving material from plastic bags.