A pilot project on recycling household rubbish in HCM City has
failed due to poor implementation and a lack of funds.

An overflowing garbage dump on Bui Van Ba Street in HCM City’s District 7. A pilot project to promote recycling of household rubbish in HCM City has failed due to poor planning and a lack of funds. (Photo: VNS)

The project, which aimed to encourage
residents to separate their household rubbish for recycling, was launched in
2004 in districts 1, 4, 5, 6, 10 and Cu Chi District.

Plans to provide residents with two rubbish
bins, one for organic waste that can be used as compost and one for rubbish made
from materials that can be recycled such as paper and plastic, were only
implemented in District 6.

Residents in all the other districts set to
benefit from the pilot project never received the rubbish bins, with authorities
claiming that they didn’t have enough funds to carry out the project.

Tran Van Danh, director of the Public
Utility Co Ltd which implemented the project in District 6, said the district
began to separate household rubbish in 2006 in nine of the district’s 14 wards
with funds of more than VND6 billion (US$285,000) from the municipal budget.

Most of the district’s residents responded
positively to the project, but some of them did not separate their rubbish, said
Danh.

“I think to make the project successful, we
need four factors: equipment, regulations, dissemination and a rubbish treatment
facility,” he said.

Municipal authorities have not issued
regulations on separating rubbish and residents who did not recycle rubbish were
not fined.

“The most factor in this project is
separating rubbish for recycling, however, the enterprises responsible for
collecting rubbish did not recycle residents’ rubbish,” said Danh.

Initial funds for the project were set at
about VND50 billion ($2.5 million) to cover rubbish collection and work on
raising public awareness on the project.

Municipal authorities tried to get the
project back on track last year by requiring each district to take more control
over rubbish recycling in their own localities. Districts were also asked to
find funds for the project.

“However, district budgets are modest and I
think they don’t have enough money to carry out the project,” said Danh.
“Municipal authorities should supply more funds for districts to encourage them
to recycle rubbish.”

Huynh Kim Phat, deputy chairman of the HCM
City People’s Committee, said the city also lacked additional funds for the
project.

“Districts can call for help from
enterprises or organisations,” he said.

Everyday the city produces more than 6,000
tonnes of rubbish, according to statistics from the city’s Department of Natural
Resources and Environment.

Most of the rubbish is buried at rubbish
dumps. However, two rubbish dumps are causing severe pollution in HCM City’s Tan
Binh District.

A large rubbish dump at the corner of
Truong Chinh and Pham Van Bach streets and a smaller facility on the corner of
Quang Trung and Truong Chinh streets are seriously affecting the health of more
than 1,000 poor families.

Resident Huynh Van Phuoc said the rubbish
has resulted in a bad stench, and residents also have to put up with noisy
rubbish trucks rumbling throughout the night.

“Because of the loud noise at 2am every
day, we can hardly sleep,” said Phuoc.

The rubbish, often piled up to as high as
10 metres, also pollutes ground water.

Diseases are widespread, with many
residents suffering from skin and digestive diseases, while many older residents
suffer from bronchitis.

VietNamNet/Viet
Nam News