Expectations and constraints of plastic packaging waste recyclers under the future EPR scheme in Vietnam
According to HCMC Department of Natural Resources and Environment, the City disposes of 9,500 tons of domestic solid waste every day, in which plastic waste accounts for a high proportion (ranked after organic waste only), about more than 1,500 tons. The amount of waste increases on average from 6 – 10% per year. The rapid increase of municipal solid waste, which has diverse and complex properties and composition, has put pressure on the waste management system.
The pilot project ‘Enhancing plastic packaging collection, sorting and recycling’, implemented by the Institut de la Recherche pour le Development (IRD) and the Hanoi Architectural University (HAU), is funded by the ‘Rethinking Plastics – Circular Economy Solutions to Marine Litter’ project of the European Union and the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ). ‘Rethinking Plastics’ is implemented by the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH and Expertise France.
The pilot project aims to increase the collection, sorting and recycling of plastic packaging in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, to reduce its environmental leakage. To reach this objective, it works on determining how much and what kind of plastic is collected, how and by whom it is transferred and processed or when it is leaked into the environment.
The analysis offers relevant information as recyclers will have a key role in Vietnam’s future EPR system, either as part of a PRO, a private recycling unit or a self- recycling unit, or as part of the recycling unit operating for the Vietnamese Environmental Protection Fund.
The social survey has been conceived to:
- Better understand the operations of Vietnamese Recyclers and their needs related to the EPR decree
- Evidence the gaps and constraints faced by recyclers due to the EPR implementation.
The present report highlights the replies of the surveyed recyclers and puts them in the context of the EPR scheme implementation in Vietnam.
