Used bottles are being gathered before they are sent to recycling plants in Lao Cai province. The unofficial sector undertakes the recycling of between 40 to 95% of urban waste in Vietnam. (Photo: VNA) Under the Law on Environment 2020 and the Government’s Decree No. 08,the recycling of products and packages will be mandatory for those who importor produce batteries, tyres, lubricants, and packaging as of January 1, 2024.
Those that import or produce electronics will be subject tomandatory recycling from January 1, 2025, whereas those importing or producingvehicles must follow suit after January 1, 2027.
If the importers and producers do not want to recycle theirproducts and packages on their own, they must pay some fees to the VietnamEnvironment Protection Fund to have it assist them in recycling the items.
The calculation of the fees will be regulated in the above-mentionedlegal document, which is under development.
Phan Tuan Hung, head of the Legal Department at the MONRE, saidthe document would be submitted to Prime Minister for approval in 2023 and comeinto force on January 1, 2024.
He also said the document would not be identical to those of anyother countries because different countries have different fees for therecycling of products and packages.
As such, it was being developed in a way specific to Vietnam. Itwould cover the aggregate fees charged for recycling, including collectingfees, sorting fees, and transporting fees, and take into account the views ofall parties concerned.
Nguyen Duc Quang, an expert from the School of EnvironmentalScience and Environment under the Hanoi University of Science and Technology,suggested two types of fees applicable to recycling, one for basic recyclingand one for advanced recycling.
Basic recycling is a broad-based process applied to generalproducts and packages, whereas advanced recycling involves those that aredifficult to recycle. The latter has different rates for different levels ofdifficulty to recycle.
"High fees would provide an incentive for manufacturers tore-design their products and packages in a more environmentally-friendlyway," said Quang.
Ko Jae Young, former Minister of Environment of the Republic ofKorea, shared Quang's view, saying that fees should be charged differently fordifferent products and packages.
He also said the calibration of fees should be delegated toindependent consultancies, who will get the job done by calculating the realcosts of recycling in the country.
The Vietnam Environment Protection Fund said it had been offeringpreferential loans with annual interest rates of between 2.6-3.6% to plasticrecycling enterprises, to promote the green practice in Vietnam.
Remarkably, eligible enterprises could take out the fund's loansto finance up to 70% of their recycling projects.
According to the Vietnam Plastics Association, Vietnameseenterprises would save roughly 15% of their costs if they recycle between 35-50%of their plastic waste.
For the time being, the recycling of between 40-95% of urban wasteis undertaken by the unofficial sector. Ho Chi Minh City takes the lead in thisregard with a rate of 95%./.
VNA
