It remains difficult for companies in HCM City to find units to process their toxic wastes since demand continues to outstrip supply by many times despite a 30-fold increase in price.
The price of treating toxic waste has gone up from 1.3 million VND a tonne in 2007 to 40 million VND (2,100 USD) now.
Despite that, treatment units refuse to treat toxic wastes that require incineration at high temperatures, preferring to treat recyclable toxic wastes.
Nguyen Trung Viet, head of the city Department of Natural Resources and Environment's Solid Waste Management Division, attributed their reluctance to operating in a sellers' market.
They preferred to treat recyclable wastes to earn more profits, he said without elaborating.
The city generates around 600 tonnes of toxic wastes a day, 75 percent of it non-recyclable.
The Department has been urging both private and public investors to build toxic-waste-treatment plants in recent years despite the fact that city agencies do not have land to provide to such investors.
Meanwhile, since the beginning of this year environmental agencies have been cracking down on waste-treatment units, forcing those that do not meet standards to shut down.
As a result, the city now has only three plants that collect, transport and treat toxic wastes compared to 20 in 2008.
With the environmental agencies also turning their attention to manufacturers, many of them enter into fraudulent contracts with waste-treatment units.
For a certain sum of money, the units merely sign the contract but do not treat the waste or only treat a small quantity./.
The price of treating toxic waste has gone up from 1.3 million VND a tonne in 2007 to 40 million VND (2,100 USD) now.
Despite that, treatment units refuse to treat toxic wastes that require incineration at high temperatures, preferring to treat recyclable toxic wastes.
Nguyen Trung Viet, head of the city Department of Natural Resources and Environment's Solid Waste Management Division, attributed their reluctance to operating in a sellers' market.
They preferred to treat recyclable wastes to earn more profits, he said without elaborating.
The city generates around 600 tonnes of toxic wastes a day, 75 percent of it non-recyclable.
The Department has been urging both private and public investors to build toxic-waste-treatment plants in recent years despite the fact that city agencies do not have land to provide to such investors.
Meanwhile, since the beginning of this year environmental agencies have been cracking down on waste-treatment units, forcing those that do not meet standards to shut down.
As a result, the city now has only three plants that collect, transport and treat toxic wastes compared to 20 in 2008.
With the environmental agencies also turning their attention to manufacturers, many of them enter into fraudulent contracts with waste-treatment units.
For a certain sum of money, the units merely sign the contract but do not treat the waste or only treat a small quantity./.
