Garbage piles up on Kim Nguu Street in Hanoi's Hai Ba Trung District. (Photo: VNA) Since 2015, the city has experienced nearly 20 instances when garbage pilled upon its streets when the two biggest dumping sites, Nam Son and Xuan Son wastetreatment complexes, ran out of space to bury the capital's garbage.
Meanwhile, the expansion of these landfills has remained stagnant because ofdisputes over land clearance compensation.
Although the city directed departments to coordinate with local districts tohold dialogues and find temporary solutions, the protests still reoccurred,causing a waste treatment crisis in the city.
Hoang Duong Tung from the Vietnam Association for the Protection of Nature andEnvironment told Vietnamplus that the biggest problem in waste treatment in Hanoiis burying garbage, an old-fashioned waste treatment that leads to overcrowdedand unsanitary landfills.
“If we continue the old-fashioned method, I believe there will be no way out inthe treatment of garbage and the conflicts among local authorities, residentsand waste treatment owners will escalate,” he said.
Tung said the authorities have not really considered the problem of garbage aproblem of urban management as none of the leaders or officials were in chargeof or disciplined for the shortcomings of the issue.
He emphasised that the city’s authorities need to change the management andoperation of landfills and the management and treatment of solid waste.
The key point is to sort waste at source as prescribed in the Law onEnvironmental Protection 2020. This will help reduce overloading at landfills.
Tung suggested the city should have a specific policy on environmental fees andsanctions on violators, and at the same time, a very specific policy to createa competitive environment for businesses to participate in waste collection,treatment and recycling.
According to him, Hanoi should not open more landfills but should pay moreattention to modern waste treatment technologies.
“The city must become a role model in waste management and treatment instead,”he said.
Edward McBean, an expert on environmental issues and solid waste treatment fromthe University of Guelph (Canada), also recommended that each family shouldsort their own waste at home to reduce waste disposal fees.
In addition, the application of sanctions is also an effective solution toenforce regulations on waste classification at source in the near future, headded.
Modern and safe waste treatment zones
Environmental experts also recommend that Hanoi should speed up the progress ofland clearance and construction of waste treatment areas.
In particular, the city needs to pay attention to new waste treatmenttechnology, which burns waste to generate electricity or pressing pellets usedin construction.
Burying garbage must be stopped to avoid environmental pollution, he added.
Nguyen Dinh Trong from Vietnam T-Tech Technology Corporation said that thesolution for big cities is the planning of garbage plants and waste collectionpoints. In Hanoi, the authorities should have three or four garbage plantsaround the city to reduce transportation costs and prevent unexpectedincidents.
Tung agreed, saying that along with accelerating the construction of wastetreatment zones, the city needs to come up with a number of response scenariosin case there is a problem during the operation of the plants.
He stressed that the improper operation of the incinerator will cause terriblepollution as a huge amount of dioxin and chemicals will spread out into theenvironment.
Tung warned that if it happens, it will be a second Formosa incident.
He said that it is necessary to be transparent about the automatic monitoringdata in the process of operating waste treatment zones as well as garbage powerplants, so that people can monitor it and the management agency can make promptdecisions to ensure environmental safety.
“No matter how modern waste treatment technology is, waste needs to be sorted.This not only meets the processing requirements but also helps ensure thedurability and longevity of the processing system and machinery,” he said. “Onlywhen garbage is classified according to the right standards can it preventharmful emissions from the combustion process.”
Statistics from the city’s Department of Construction showed that every day thecity has about 5,000 tonnes of domestic waste.
The Nam Son Waste Treatment Complex receives an average of 4,000 tonnes ofwaste per day while the Xuan Son Complex receives the rest in the form ofcombined incineration and burial.
According to Hanoi’s planning on solid waste treatment by 2030 with a vision to2050, there will be 17 waste treatment zones with a capacity of up to 1,200tonnes per day./.
VNA
