Manufacturers and importers in HCM City need to be ready to take on extended producer responsibilities for their products’ environmental impacts, including recycling and treating toxic wastes, a top Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment official has said.
A conference being held in HCM City on August 15 to apprise businesses about their extended producer responsibilities on environmental impacts. – VNA Photo Hong Giang
Speaking at a conference on Monday, Phan Tuan Hung, head of the ministry’s legal affairs department, said extended producer responsibility (EPR) means that businesses had to be responsible for the environmental impacts during the entire life cycles of their products.
The 2020 Law on Environmental Protection devolves two types of environmental responsibilities on businesses and importers: for recycling and treatment.
The first covers recyclable products and packaging such as electronics, vehicles and packaging of foods, makeup products and fertilisers, and their recycling is mandatory from 2024.
Producers can also choose to pay the Viet Nam Environmental Protection Fund to have their products recycled.
The Government will announce the fees for recycling various items next year.
The other responsibility involves treating wastes from products and packaging that contain toxic elements or are difficult to be gathered and recycled such as single-use batteries, hygiene products, cigarettes, and products with plastics.
Starting this year businesses needed to pay the Viet Nam Environmental Protection Fund to finance waste gathering and treatment activities.
Failure to pay entails fines of up to VND2 billion (US$85,162)
Hung said: “Contributions to the Viet Nam Environmental Protection Fund are managed in a such way as to ensure transparency. Usage of the fund for recycling and waste treatment activity is published every year, and businesses can take part in decision making and monitoring how the fund is used.”
Certain businesses such as exporters and those importing products for research would be exempt from the fees, he said.
"Viet Nam is capable of maintaining a circular economy," he said.
The conference was organised by the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, Viet Nam Chamber of Commerce and Industry, EuroCham Viet Nam, and AmCham Viet Nam.
Viet Nam is striving to achieve net-zero emission by 2050.