HCM City begins to classify solid wastes at source

All solid wastes in HCM City will be classified at source beginning on November  二 四. – VNA/VNS Photo

HCM CITY – All households and co妹妹ercial establishments in HCM City have to segregate their solid waste at source into organic and other wastes from Saturday.

The rubbish has in fact to be classified into three types – organic, recyclable and other wastes.

Leftover food, leaves, vegetables, fruits, and animal carcasses will be organic, paper, metal, rubber, plastic, and glass will be recyclable and everything else excepting toxic stuff will be categorised as other waste.

The city does not stipulate specific colours for the bags used for the different types of wastes, but encourages the use of white or green bags for organic wastes and other colours for the rest.

The rubbish bags can be labelled.

Public rubbish bins on main streets, markets and malls, parks, amusement places, other public places, and residential areas will be labelled as organic or other wastes.   

Rubbish collectors will collect organic waste on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays, and Sundays and the rest on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays.

The People’s Co妹妹ittee has ordered competent agencies to publicise the regulations on administrative fines related to environmental protection.

They include fines repeated for failure to segregate the wastes.

The city generates around  八, 九00 tonnes of household solid waste daily. Of that,  七 六 per cent is buried,  一 四. 七 per cent is recycled and  九. 三 per cent is burnt to generate electricity, according to the Department of Natural Resources and Environment.

The city plans to reduce the landfill rate to  五0 per cent by  二0 二0 and  二0 per cent by  二0 五0.

The People’s Co妹妹ittee has encouraged investment in collecting and treating household rubbish using environment-friendly methods.

Every year the city spends around VNĐ 八 八 billion (US$ 三. 七 七 million) to classify solid wastes at source and VNĐ 一. 八 trillion ($ 七 七. 二 million) to treat solid wastes, according to its Department of Finance.

A pilot progra妹妹e to classify solid wastes began many years ago, and is already being done in many wards and co妹妹unes. – VNS