Hanoi (VNS/VNA)- As Vietnam’s wealth and population have increased, so, too, has somethingaltogether less pleasant: the amount of the country’s waste.

With currenttechnology for treating and storing the waste still far behind the country’sneeds, dump sites are starting to pose a threat to the environment and topublic health, according to Mai Thanh Dung, vice director of the Institute ofStrategy and Policy on Natural Resources and Environment (ISPONRE).

The most popularmethod of solid waste treatment is still burial, thanks to its relatively lowcost, little initial investment and ability to handle most types of solid waste.However, the increasing amount of waste, lax management and disregard fortechnical protocols are rapidly making this method unsustainable.

According to theMinistry of Construction, the total amount of household waste generated eachday in Vietnam stands at 38,000 tonnes, with the rate of collection andtreatment only reaching 85 percent.

By 2016, there wereabout 600 landfills in the country – excluding small and scattered ones at thecommune level – with a total area of 4,900 ha. Only 29 to 31 percent of theselandfills, or 200, are actually considered to have met required sanitarystandards.

In big cities, wheretreatment by burial accounted for 69 percent of all waste management, theresulting degradation of water, land, and air quality has been a growingconcern.

According to a surveyconducted by the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources, in manyprovinces of the south-central coastal and Central Highlands regions,industrial waste and household waste are still buried together in subparlandfills. Especially in the Central Highlands, open dump sites are oftenlocated in the valleys close to headwaters, putting downstream populations atserious risk of health problems from contaminated water.

Similarly, in theMekong Delta region, many landfills are constructed without proper embankments.In the rainy season, the pits are filled with water that can spill over andcontaminate surrounding areas.

The MoNRE’s reportpointed out other problems with landfill design. For example, there is a lackof planning for landfills at the local level, limited mobilisation ofinvestment into landfill projects and the continued use of outdated technicalstandards in the design of new landfills.  

An ISPONRErepresentative said that the national goal of having certified 90 percent oflandfills by 2020 is looking unlikely, based on the current situation.

Associate Professor VuDinh Hieu, from the Hanoi University of Mining and Geology, said the waste produced bymining activities in Vietnam – a staggering 312 to 403 million cu.m a year – isconcentrated in the northeast region, where most of the country’s mineralresources are located. Mine waste dump sites might easily deform a whole area’sgeological features, including rivers and forests, he said. In some cases, thesize of each dump site might be as large as the actual mining site, eating uplarge land areas.

Numerous acutedisasters can also result from these dump sites, like dust pollution,desertification, or potential soil erosion and mud floods, especially duringmonsoons. The country has already witnessed such floods in the cases of Phan Memine in Thai Nguyen province (2012) or in Hon Gai of Quang Ninh province.

Hieu urged proper planningof these industrial dump sites. They must also follow environmental standardsrequiring the planting of 3,000 trees per hectare and the installation of anappropriate and capable drainage system and stable embankments to minimiserisks of disasters, he said.-VNA