On 4 June 2018, in Binh Dinh province, the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment (MONRE) and Binh Dinh Provincial People’s Committee (PPC) jointly held a Workshop on “Controlling environmental pollution from using persistent plastic bags - a need for joint efforts of communities”. MONRE Vice Minister Vo Tuan Nhan and the PPC Vice Chairman Tran Chau co-chaired the Workshop.
Vice Minister Nhan spoke at the worshop
The Workshop were attended by about 120 representatives who are management staffs, managers, researchers and experts from MONRE, Ministry of Finance, High command of Navy, Ho Chi Minh Communist Youth Union, Viet Nam Environmental Protection Association, Viet Nam Plastic Association, institutes and relevant universities of Ha Noi, Ho Chi Minh and Quy Nhon cities.
According to the statistics, each Vietnamese household uses from 5 to 7 plastic bags daily, therefore about million of plastic bags are used and discharged into the environment per day. Ha Noi and Ho Chi Minh cities respectively are discharging about 80 tons of plastic and plastic bags. Researches show that it is required at least 20 years for plastic bags to be completely decomposed and plastic pollution is significantly affecting people’s health and the environment.
At the Workshop, participants listened to review reports and discussed about the current situation of plastic bags use, ongoing activities and achieved results under the Government Project 582/QD-TTg on “Enhancement of environmental pollution control from using persistent plastic bags until 2020”, advantages and difficulties, scientific and technological solutions, and policy and mechanism, etc. Some major and priority solutions were identified and proposed, e.g. education and communication policies, economic and encouraging policies and so forth.
Vice Minister Nhan emphasized the urgent need for environmental protection in socio-economic development process, and underscored that the environment related challenges need to be addressed harmoniously to ensure sustainable development. Based on the participants’ comments and recommendations, Vice Minister Nhan requested the Viet Nam Environment Administration and the Institute for Strategy and Policy on Natural Resources and Environment to continuously research to find out comprehensive solutions for addressing the current problem of plastic bags pollution.
Hoang Xuan Huy