Seongin Choi & Nayeon Ko
Abstract
Vietnam’s rapid economic growth has led to a surge in waste emissions. After implementing the Doi Moi economic reform and opening strategy in the mid-1980s, the country became one of the biggest contributors to plastic pollution in Southeast Asia and one of a number of nations that failed to effectively manage and dispose of waste. Vietnam generated 38,000 tons of municipal waste per day in 2017, and according to the Vietnam Environment Agency, the amount of solid waste generated in Vietnam is increasing by 10 to 16% annually. Additionally, improper waste disposal negatively affects the health and environment of low-income households. In the past, when economic development was a top priority, these difficulties were difficult to manage carefully. However, now that Vietnam’s economic status in the international community has changed, it is inevitable for the government to take steps toward a new Vietnam. This paper presents solutions that can create synergy with the government’s environmental policy in two stages, assuming that the Vietnamese government is taking an active stance on environmental issues, such as introducing separate collection policy and environmentally friendly waste treatment methods. First, along with the Vietnamese government’s mandatory separate collection, it is proposed to introduce a separate collection platform that shortens the adaptation period and provides incentives to the public for separate collection. Second, solutions such as rPET (recycled polyester terephthalate) fibers, pyrolysis oil, and plastic bricks are offered to enable the current traditional and uneconomical plastic waste treatment procedures to achieve economic benefits and be disposed of in a future-oriented manner. Nephron, a circulating resource collection machine developed by Korean social enterprise SuperBin, has become a model for a separate collection platform implemented in consideration of various circumstances such as economic and technological conditions in Vietnam. This recycling platform and waste plastic treatment technology will propel Vietnam’s domestic waste management towards a more streamlined, sanitary, eco-friendly, and sustainable direction, and with this platform, Vietnam will become a recycling and environmental leader.
Keywords: Recycling, Waste, Waste plastic, Circular resource