VietNamNet Bridge – The landfill in northern Ha Giang City's Minh Khai Ward would be shut down this month to make way for construction of a new trash dump and waste water treatment facility, said director of Ha Giang's Environment and Natural Resources Department Hoang Van Nhu.

Plans for the VND20 billion (US$910,000) project called for a new 3.6-ha facility, said Nhu. It would consist of three main areas, including a zone to treat previously-collected waste, a new landfill and a zone to treat waste water as it leaks from the garbage.

A layer of clay and high-density polyethylene (HDPE) will be placed beneath the new facility to avoid leakage into the ground and prevent environmental pollution.

Duong Van Hai, director of the project developer, Construction and Environment Technology Transfer Company, said the project would help reduce the pollution caused by the current landfill and offer more space for refuse disposal.

The new landfill would be able to properly treat the city's rubbish for a minimum of three years after its completion next year.

The city is inching closer to its total collection capacity of 70,000 tonnes each day with 65.7 tonnes currently being collected daily, according to 2009 statistics. The current 2-ha landfill has been in use since 2001.

The overloaded landfill combined with improperly treated waste water has caused environment pollution in the city, especially in its water resources.

* Hazardous medical waste to be treated by 2025

The Ministry of Construction has proposed to collect and sort all hazardous medical solid waste by 2015 and to have 70 per cent of it properly treated.

The balance would be held for treatment later.

The proposal, submitted to the Prime Minister's Office earlier last week, aims to set up dump sites and treatment systems for hazardous solid waste from all hospitals and medical centre nation-wide.

"At the moment, about 60 per cent of the waste is treated to standard environmental criteria," ministry environment official Nguyen Ngoc Duong said. "The rest is either being treated by systems that do not meet environmental standards or it is not treated at all."

From 2025 all hazardous solid medical waste would be treated with a treating system that meets the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment's standard, he said. In the first stages of the plan, the Ministry of Construction proposed to build capacity in management and treatment.

The total cost of the project was estimated to be VND122.1 billion (US$6 million) including costs to renovate existing waste treatment centres and construction of new treatment sites and dumping places.

Everyday 4.2 tonnes of hazardous medical waste solid was discharged nation-wide. The ministry estimated 50 tonnes by 2015 at medical centres and hospitals. It was expected to reach 90 tonnes by 2025. The ministry would need to explain the proposal in detail in order to get the Prime Minister's approval, Duong said.

VietNamNet/Viet Nam News