Vietnam’s southern economic hub of Ho Chi Minh City now has around 800 waste recycling businesses, but most of which are small and use backward technology, seriously polluting the environment, said the municipal Waste Recycling Fund (Refu).
Le Van Khoa, director of Refu, made the statement at a recent press briefing on the city’s Fourth Recycling Day in 2011, saying that almost all the local waste recyclers do not meet the standards, excluding ones in Binh Chanh and Cu Chi districts.
“The technology for waste recycling here has not been upgraded over the past four years,” Khoa attributed, adding that these firm found hard to improve their technology because they were receiving scant incentives, especially those involving capital, tax and land, for revamping their production.
Khoa said the heavy tax on plastic bag production, at up to VND50,000 per kg, will be applied when the law on environmental protection tax takes effect early 2012. However, the city has just four producers of self-decomposing bags to replace nylon bags. These four enterprises are having difficulty in finding outlets for their recycled products, he said, noting that there are no national standards for bio-bags. The local authorities are planning to develop a 100-ha waste recycling complex in Cu Chi district, but the project’s site clearance has not yet completed. HCM City is estimated to discharge around 30 tons of plastic bags a day, Khoa added. (english.thesaigontimes.vn April 5)
