Hanoi plans not to use nylon bags in supermarkets and traditional markets by the year 2020. (Photo: kienthuc.net.vn)

This is the call from the municipal Department of Industry and Trade. The cityis appealing to businesses to join the campaign.

More than 200 companies in the capital signed commitments to cut plastic wastein industrial production and consumption distribution.

The signing took place at a conference on Actions against Plastic Waste inIndustry Production and Consumption organised by the department.

The plastic waste discharged from production and consumption activities washuge and most of the garbage was hard to decompose, said Tran Thi Phuong Lan,the department’s vice director.

Statistics show that in Hanoi alone there are about 100 plastic productionbusinesses along with 24 shopping malls, 140 supermarkets, 454 traditionalmarkets and thousands of shops trading food and fruit many using nylon bags andother plastics.

Although there have been several studies and warnings on the health andenvironment risks, nylon bags and plastic products remain very popular becauseof convenience, Lan said.

“Every day, the city has been discharging between 5,500 and 6,000 tonnes ofdomestic waste, of which plastic accounted for about 10 percent, or about 60tonnes,” she said.

The city has introduced several measures to reduce production and substituteswith greener products.

It has asked plastic production and distribution businesses to set up plans toproduce self-decomposing products by the year 2020.

 “The city set goals of no use ofhard-decomposed nylon bags in all supermarkets and 50 percent decrease of theuse in traditional markets by the end of year 2020,” said Lan.

The city aimed to gradually reduce plastic materials and classify all wastedischarged by factories while also stop to produce disposable products andhard-decomposed nylon bags by the year 2025.

“Understanding the impacts of plastic waste on the environment, a number ofplastic manufacturers and distributors in the city have shifted to make and usebiodegradable bags and natural materials,” said Lan.

However, the change would create difficulties for the manufacturers anddistributors due to high production costs.

Additionally, many enterprises felt worried the environmental-friendly productswould be hard to sell when the use of the products was not compulsory, Lanadded. - VNA