VietNamNet Bridge - Vietnam has been unintentionally importing pollution because of loopholes in management over scrap imports.

According to the Ministry of Natural Resources and the Environment (MONRE), there are 200-250 enterprises which import scrap to provide to other enterprises as input materials for production. 

Vietnam mostly imports scrap steel & iron (about 2.2-2.5 million tons a year), scrap plastics (0.8 million tons) and scrap paper (0.7 million tons).

A report showed that 5,411 containers of goods have been left at airports as the goods owners have not turned up to receive the imports. 

These are mostly temporary imports for re-export later, including used rubber tires which cannot meet the requirements on environmental protection to be imported to Vietnam.

Nguyen Huu Ninh, president of the Center for Environment Research Education and Development (CERED), does not think allowing the scrap import is a good idea.

“I entirely oppose the import of waste to Vietnam because I know many enterprises make corrupt use of legal loopholes to import garbage,” he said.

Vietnam has been unintentionally importing pollution because of loopholes in management over scrap imports.

Local newspapers reported that the HCM City customs agency in January discovered 16 containers of scrap which were imported without the licenses from state management agencies. The importer said it could not re-export the consignment of goods.

The expert went on to say that in order to prevent garbage from entering Vietnam, it would be better not to license enterprises to import wasted materials. He believes that wasted materials can be found in the domestic market for recycling and there is no need to rely on the imports.

An analyst, agreeing with Ninh, commented that only scrap importers can benefit from the import, while the country suffers because it becomes the place for other countries to throw waste.

He stressed that if enterprises import radioactive substances and heavy metals, the expected profits are too modest to offset the high expenses the state will have to pay to settle the environmental problems to be caused by imports.

He said it is necessary to tighten the management over the scrap import by only allowing some capable prestigious enterprises to import scrap, while only some kinds of useful scrap would be allowed to enter Vietnam.
He also suggested applying a specific management mechanism to scrap import enterprises and imposing specific tax rates on the kinds of scrap to be imported to Vietnam.

Le Thi Cong, director of the Ba Ria-Vung Tau provincial Department of Natural Resources and the Environment, admitted that it was very difficult to manage the import of scrap.

“It is unacceptable to import scrap paper as well,” she said, adding that it would be better to collect and process waste from domestic sources and restrict the scrap imports.

Hai Quan