The Department of Agriculture and Rural Development in Kien Giang Province held a joint conference about plastic waste on June 27 with World Wide Fund for Nature-Vietnam.    

115 tonnes of rubbish dumped in Phu Quoc each day

Nguyen Thu Huyen, the representative of WWF-Vietnam said Phu Quoc is facing plastic waste overload. 

Phu Quoc has a population of over 100,000, 1,600 firms and three million tourists a year. 

As a result, there is waste from the residential area, construction sites as well as hotels and tourism services. 

But the most problematic is the high amount of plastic waste.

Le Thi Viet Thu, director of Sun Phu Quoc Company, most of the rubbish can be found on the beach. The company collects six to eight tonnes of nylon, plastic bottles and foam boxes on a daily basis.

According to the experts, weak rubbish collecting method and network, ineffective policies, low funding and public awareness are the main causes for the increasing plastic waste.

Huyen agreed that they need to improve rubbish collection efficiency, solid rubbish management, reduce the amount of buried rubbish and find better classifying and recycling processes. 

But more importantly, public awareness about waste must be improved and unqualified landfills must be shut down.

Meanwhile, Thu said large firms must take responsibility for the materials they use and find replacements for plastic products. Deputy head of Kien Giang Department of Agriculture and Rural Development also said major firms must lead in cutting the use of plastics. 

The tourism sector should keep a close eye on environmental protection.

Le Thanh Nghia, head of the Sea and Islands Department suggested dividing the plan into several parts with clear focuses. 

Community-based activities are highlighted as a way to raise public awareness. Nguyen Huu Tuynh from Sun Group said they usually employed 60% of the local workforce since local people are more aware of the environment in their hometown than others. 

They also implemented many measures to protect the environment such as building a waste treatment plant.

Vietnam is among top five countries that generate most plastic waste in the ocean. About 1.8 million tonnes of plastic waste was dumped into the sea annually. 

In 2015 alone, 14 million tonnes of waste was dumped into Vietnamese coastal waters, accounting for 60% of the country’s waste.

Nguoilaodong/Dtinews