VietNamNet Bridge - HCM City wants to make use of the 10,000-11,000 tons of waste discharged every day in the city to generate electricity. 

City authorities have drawn up an ambitious plan to recycle solid waste, under which 10 percent of waste would be re-used, 10 percent would be used for electricity generation, 40 percent for compost and 40 percent dumped in a sanitary way.

To implement the plan, the city has called for capital in three waste treatment projects – a domestic garbage treatment plant run on Chinese TBS technology, a solid waste treatment plant with capacity of 500 tons per day and an incinerator with capacity of 1,500-2,000 tons per day.

However, the plan has not been implemented and targets have not been met. According to the HCM City Natural Resources and the Environment, 75 percent of the 11,000 tons of solid waste have been dumped, and 24 percent have been composted, but an incinerator has not been built.

The city has been trying to use gas generated from dumped garbage at the Go Cat landfill to generate electricity. However, with low capacity and outdated technology, the production costs are too high. As a result, the plant has been operating at a moderate level.

Ckth authorities have been trying to promote waste treatment projects using advanced technologies, aiming to recycle 65 percent of the domestic solid waste in the 2016-2020 period.

The HCM City People’s Committee has allowed two Japanese businesses to carry out the feasibility study for waste treatment projects in the city. 

Hitachi Zosen has received approval on conducting a feasibility study on generating power from waste and building a trial model of a biodegradable solid waste treatment plant in District 1.

Meanwhile, Kobelco-Solutions will consider the feasibility of a project on using solid waste treatment technology for power regeneration.

Hitachi Zosen is involved in a project to generate electricity from synthetic waste in Malang City of Indonesia, which is believed to have similar conditions with HCM City.

According to the HCM City Department of Natural Resources and the Environment, Hitachi Zosen plans to build a plant with incineration capacity of a maximum 1,000 tons per day with investment capital of $150 million.

Hitachi Zosen offers incineration cost at a very reasonable level - $25-30 per ton, much lower than the average prices in the world, $50-70 per ton in Asia and 90-100 euros in Europe.

The official explained that as the project is a part of the cooperation program between HCM City and Osaka, expenses that go over budget will be supported by the government of Japan.

NLD