Vietnamplus

The Jakarta administration has issued a long awaited regulation banning such plastic bags from traditional and modern markets starting in June this year.

Various environmental incidents in 2019 have forced Vietnam’s people and Government to face a reckoning.

Thailand began the year with a ban on single-use plastic bags at major stores, continuing a campaign launched by the government and retailers towards a complete ban in 2021 to reduce waste and debris discharged into the sea.

The central city of Da Nang’s Environment and Urban Company (URENCO), in cooperation with EverGreen Labs Consultant and EverGreen Social ventures, will start a pilot project on plastic waste recycling in the city later this year.

Hanoi’s Department of Industry and Trade and AEON Vietnam Co., Ltd will work together to reduce single-use plastics in supermarkets and AEON Mall Ha Dong under a project launched on December 19.

The Department of Environmental Quality Promotion (DEQP) of Thailand has signed an agreement with eight TV stations to discourage the availability of single-use plastic bags by censoring scenes showing the bags in programmes, while major shops and stores will officially discontinue offering these bags from January 1.

The Thai Retailers Association said on December 2 that around 75 shops agreed to stop providing plastic bags from January 1.

Vietnam has been listed as one of the top five plastic polluters in the world, so eco-friendly technical solutions and the use of bio-degradable plastic products need urgent promotion, participants at a workshop heard on November 29 in Hanoi.

Thailand’s ranking in production of the world’s marine garbage volume has improved due to a remarkable decrease in the amount of single-use plastic and foam containers, reported the National News Bureau of Thailand (NNT).

Long before the "say no to plastic waste" movement took hold, Le Xuan Ha – a young man from the central province of Thanh Hoa - successfully started a business making bamboo and wooden straws.

Hoi An city in the central province of Quang Nam, a World Cultural Heritage site, has exerted efforts to reduce the use of single-use plastic products and encourage locals to sort waste to protect the environment.

Cambodia’s Ministry of Environment plans to issue a circular banning the import and production of single-use plastic products as part of efforts to reduce plastic waste pollution in the country.

Taxing end-users of plastic bags is deemed as a foray to bringing down the amount of daily plastic waste, according to Deputy Minister of Natural Resources and Environment Vo Tuan Nhan.

Embracing circular economy will help Vietnam respond to natural resources starvation and environmental pollution, while heading towards sustainable economic development.

The Hanoi People’s Committee has asked all of its organisations and agencies to refrain from using plastic bags and single-use plastics starting from this month.

Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc stressed on October 15 that the Government will take more drastic actions to protect the environment, including returning imported containers of waste to their source countries.

More than 2,000 people engaged in a programme to clean beaches in Da Nang on September 28.

Many agencies, units and businesses across the northern province of Phu Tho have been taking specific actions in response to the “no plastic waste” campaign.

At the pharmacy in Binh Dan Hospital in Ho Chi Minh City’s District 3, staff use paper bags to pack medicine instead of plastic.

Giant retailers, plastic manufacturing firms and supermarkets in Thailand have reached an agreement to stop supplying single-use plastic bags to customers from early 2010.