Environment

Ministry to inspect waste import activities

The Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment will conduct inspections of the Vietnam Environment Administration along with 64 organisations and 10 departments relating to natural resources and the environment during the performance of legal regulations on environmental protection while importing waste as production materials.
Ministry to inspect waste import activities ảnh 1Hundreds of used home electronics banned from import found in containers at Cat Lai Port in HCM City. (Photo: VNA)

Hanoi (VNA) – The Ministry of NaturalResources and Environment will conduct inspections of the Vietnam EnvironmentAdministration along with 64 organisations and 10 departments relating tonatural resources and the environment during the performance of legalregulations on environmental protection while importing waste as productionmaterials.

Among the 64 inspected organisations, 54 werecertified by the ministry as being eligible to import scrap as productionmaterials.  

According to the General Department of Customs,in the first five months of 2018, Vietnam imported more than 2 million tonnesof steel, worth 744 million USD. The highest imports came from Japan with 564,000tonnes worth 200 million USD.

Speaking at the Government’s monthly pressconference in August, Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc demanded that “Vietnammust not become a landfill that will damage people’s living conditions and thecountry’s image”.

The Government leader ordered customsauthorities, the environmental ministry, the transport ministry, and local administrationswhose major ports struggle with scrap containers to review their policies andactivities, and to “learn their lessons” from having let the situation get outof control in the first place.

Minister of Environment and Natural ResourcesTran Hong Ha said the ministry is considering a total ban on the import ofscraps. Besides comprehensive inspections and a thorough revamp of scrap importpermit mechanisms, heavy fines and revoking business licences are all on thetable as possible solutions, he added.

What the country need is a complete reshufflingof recycling companies’ operations, which would require these companies toraise their standards and update their technologies with defined roadmaps fortransition, he said.

Vietnam would also need to introduce a nationalwaste system to improve the woeful rate of reuse and recycling, which would atleast help those in the recycled produce sector obtain sufficient domesticscrap supply, he suggested.–VNA

VNA
#waste import activities in Vietnam #Vietnam Environment Administration #Vietnam Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment #legal regulations on environmental protection #importing waste as production materials #scrap containers #scrap import permit mechanisms #Vietnam News Agency #vietnamplus
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