NOVEL 5R SYSTEM TO MANAGE AND CLASSIFY SOLID WASTE IN VIETNAM…A CASE STUDY IN HA NOI

In this article, the 5R system includes three main contents: propaganda, awareness raising, behavior change, and behavior with different types of waste, especially plastic waste, collection, sorting, treatment and control of waste from the source; International cooperation, scientific research, application and technology transfer in waste treatment. The foremost importance in reducing waste in general is raising awareness, changing behavior, and dealing with different types of waste, promptly commend and commend the typical advanced in waste reduction movements. The research team organizes propaganda campaigns to promote activities that apply the 5R (Renew – Refuse – Reduce – Reuse – Recycle) model in operation, service production, daily life to minimize and limit. , say no to plastic waste. The 5R system also aims to build a network of urban areas reducing plastic in Vietnam, piloting at University of Education (UEd), Vietnam National University (VNU) and schools in Hanoi.

• Introduction  

• Two case studies between Korea and Japan 

Facing the warning of the global waste crisis is getting more serious. Garbage can cause enormous environmental and financial burden on governments of other countries. The major countries in the world have measures to manage and treat waste in accordance with their own conditions. The comparison between two systems in Japan and Korea was examined. 

• Japan 

In Japan, waste treatment and garbage security are effectively implemented thanks to the successful implementation of the garbage classification system from the beginning and the application of modern waste treatment and recycling technology. The Japanese garbage classification system is relatively complicated. Each city, town, and county has a completely different system. For example, 23 neighborhoods in Tokyo have their own garbage sorting system, all burnable garbage is required in red bags, non-burnable garbage is in blue bags while paper, plastic, bottles, soft plastic, newspaper, cover, glass and battery in white bag [1].  

According to Waste Atlas, Japan generates a total of 45,360,000 tons of waste annually, ranking 8th in the world. Since there was not as much land for landfills as the US and China, Japan was forced to rely on another solution, which is to burn rubbish. This water is already used by fluidized bed combustion, an efficient method for burning hard materials. In addition, 20.8% of total annual waste is recycled by Japan, especially polyethylene terephthalate (PET) synthetic plastic bottles [2]. PET is a popular material for the production of drinking water bottles in vending machines and grocery stores across Japan. Many Japanese companies are increasingly using plastic from old PET bottles for new production. PET bottles that have not undergone filtration process can be converted into yarns for clothing, bags, carpets and raincoats [3, 4].  

• Korea 

In Korea, waste management is similar to Japan, but the way of treating waste is the same as in Germany. Part of the kitchen organic waste is used as a growing medium for food fungi, a larger portion of which is controlled landfilled to recover the biogas for electricity generation. After the garbage in the burial pit has been fully decomposed, the landfill humus is to be exploited as fertilizer. Korean garbage bag regulations are somewhat stricter than neighboring Japan. Here, not any kind of bag is used to dispose of garbage, but each district and city will have their own rules for the bag to dispose of and this only applies to that place [5]. Therefore, if you bring the Gangnam trash bag to the Songpa-gu area to empty it, you could be fined. However, this regulation also has some similarities with the Japanese, that garbage bags are divided into three main categories: ordinary ones, ones used for destruction and those for food [6]. 

Koreans use a system called jongnyangje to collect and dispose of domestic waste in the most organized and environmentally friendly way. This system divides waste into many different sub-categories and for each item there will be a separate penalty if people do not comply. Waste is divided into: ordinary garbage (ilban sseuregi), food (eumsikmul sseuregi), recyclable (jaehwal yongpum) and large waste (daehyeongpyegimul). For items such as computers, monitors, keyboards, printers, game equipment, clocks, irons, electric fans and other small electronic devices, they will be allowed to be placed with waste is recycled and collected at no cost. This regulation was set up by the Korean government to encourage the recycling of electronics – which is one of the country’s strengths [6].   

• The real situation in Viet Nam  

Collection and treatment of waste, especially medical waste and solid industrial and handicraft waste in urban areas are also increasingly difficult. It is estimated that each year, the whole country generates about 13 million tons of garbage, of which 7 million tons / year in urban areas, accounting for 55.8%, however, only about 60-70% of solid waste is collected. and handling. The collection and treatment of urban waste is mainly done by burial method, only 16 out of 63 provinces and cities have sanitary landfills, but most of them are not yet paid. should still cause pollution of the soil environment, water pollution and air pollution in the surrounding area. The sewer system for wastewater drainage in urban areas is also not up to standard, and there is no centralized wastewater treatment system. Wastewater is not treated before being discharged into the common sewer system and discharged into rivers, causing serious environmental pollution [7].  

If urban areas are facing the challenge of air pollution, industrial waste stagnation, rural areas are facing the problem of environmental pollution, toilets or water pollution due to waste. from craft villages; Pollution of the soil environment due to excessive use of pesticides and chemical fertilizers. According to statistics, every year in rural areas, tens of millions of tons of domestic waste are generated, of which about 80% of the volume of waste, domestic wastewater and packages of plant protection drugs and pesticides – Hazardous waste has not been collected and handled hygienically, but discharged directly into the environment, caused serious pollution of the rural water and air sources. The abuse of chemical fertilizers, growth stimulants, plant protection products, pesticides that do not comply with technical procedures, do not guarantee the isolation time to generate and increase CH4, H2S, NH3 pollutes the environment, especially in agricultural areas that use fertilizers and pesticides in contravention of technical processes such as Dong Anh (Hanoi), Hiep Hoa (Bac Giang), Yen. Dinh (Thanh Hoa), Central Highlands (Duc Trong, Da Lat City). Accordingly, many diseases have spread rapidly, causing great economic losses and serious threats to the health of the people. Every year, the country “consumes” more than 100,000 tons of plant protection chemicals; generated more than 23 million tons of domestic waste, more than 7 million tons of industrial solid waste, more than 630,000 tons of hazardous waste while the treatment of waste and wastewater is very limited. The startling figures have just been summarized and reported by the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment at the national conference on environmental protection held on August 24 to frankly look at the overall picture of the current environmental situation in Vietnam. In particular, about 80% of Hanoi’s unsorted daily household waste is transported to the Nam Son landfill, averaging about 5,000 tons / day [8]. 

• Methods 

• 5R – Important rules in plastic waste prevention  

5R is a very important 5 rules in zero waste campaign around the world to minimize the level of human waste, including plastic waste. Specifically, 5R corresponds to the following 5 criteria: 

+ Refuse: Refuse technological processes, sources of raw materials and products that affect the environment. 

+ Reduce: Minimize the use of plastic materials as much as possible, take advantage of available products simply and effectively but still ensure product quality.

+ Reuse (Reuse): Reuse waste on site, not give up, cause waste.

+ Recycle: Processing waste and waste into other useful products (Fig. 3). 

+ ROT (Decomposition): Prioritize the use of highly degradable products that are safe with the environment. 

The research team thoroughly apply these 5 criteria to waste – especially plastic waste will no longer be a hazard of nature and humans. 

• Results 

Our project in Hanoi, Vietnam obtained some critical results accordingly: 

+ Make infographics (Fig. 1), banners, posters and media posts start for Keep UEd clean campaign; 

Fig. 1. A photo in the campaign. 

+ Organize propaganda activities with the theme “Garbage and how to properly classify garbage”; 

+ Photo contest and article writing on the topic “Environment protection – Get tickets together” to educate about the awareness of environmental protection with the participants are students, lecturers in the school unit; 

+ Campaign “Redeem – Get gifts”: Organize the collection of old bottles, plastic bottles, batteries, paper, books, … and exchange them for gifts corresponding to trees, textbooks, books, stories; 

+ Talkshow about “Current status of the environment, climate change and its effects”; 

+ Building a “garbage road” (Fig. 2) with a theme related to plastic waste to propagate and disseminate about the harmful effects of plastic waste on the environment and solutions to plastic waste, thereby mobilizing and calling for response to the campaign “say no to the waste of hard-to-decompose plastic and plastic bags”;  

+ Use the products collected from the Campaign “Redeem – Get gifts” and put into STEM Education; 

+ Training for 4th year students on putting environmental protection in classroom lectures; 

+ Organized the mass launch on Green Sunday, including activities such as: organizing a series of activities in response to the anti-plastic waste movement, cleaning up C0, planting trees in public places. 

Fig. 2. The group’s “Trash Road” media publication with the Rector of VNU UEd.

Fig. 3.  Plastic bottles, paper boxes, and straws have been recycled into funny shapes.

• Real activities  

Table 1. The real activities were conducted in VNU UEd.  

• Pratical Applications  

– The research team has implemented activities at the University of Education through the communication channels: Youth Union, Project Club, Club 3S (Student Learning Support), Clubs Scientific Research and Other Clubs.   

– The research team participates in the contest “50 AMBASSADOR OF ENVIRONMENTAL STUDENTS IN VIETNAM 2020” and performs the project according to the 5R criterion at the host institution.  

– Follow “Each student is an advocate” on environmental protection in particular as well as social issues in general will contribute to spreading widely to the family, community and society. From there, creating a network of young people participating in environmental protection. 

• Future work 

Following the concept of the 5R project, our team intends to build a green network in Hanoi in the future, with the core of students in the 5R project – students of the University of Education; students in Hanoi city (5R organization) to propagandize, raise awareness, join hands in action with the theme “Green growth and sustainable development”. Bringing the young generation together to solve the problem of plastic waste, creating valuable handmade products to replace utensils with materials that pollute the environment, to meet the requirements of the underlying economy biology and cyclic economics.  

• Conclusion 

Sorting garbage at source is really a difficult but impossible task. “Haven’t heard anyone propaganda. Here, no one knows how to classify waste”. That is the answer we received when interviewing some small traders in the Bu Gia Map market area, Bu Gia Map commune, Bu Gia Map district. Therefore, through this 5R Project, the spread of communication will be spread to the entire society. Especially the young generation of the country is the students and students working together to protect the environment. 

Acknowledgements: This project was funded by Vietnam National University, Hanoi, Vietnam.  

Authors: Truong Ngoc Kiem, Hoang Thu Ha, Nguyễn Thị Minh Thơm, Nguyen Duy Tung, Doan Duc Minh, Hoang Ly Bao Long, Hoang Ly Tuan Long, Manh Hoang Anh, Nguyen Trung Thanh, Tran Dinh Minh.

And also: VNU University of Education, Hanoi, Vietnam, High School for Gifted Student (HSGS), VNU Hanoi University of Science,  The Olympia Schools, Hanoi, Chu Van An High School, Hanoi.