VietNamNet Bridge – At many universities and institutes in HCM City, toxic fumes from experiments go up into ventilation pipes, while liquid waste goes directly into sewers and solid waste into public garbage cans.

Where is the waste going?

In other countries in the world, researchers do not have to worry about the disposal of dangerous waste because universities and institutes have professional experts in charge of this. However, in Vietnam, there is no one taking care of toxic waste disposal.

At a laboratory of T. University, tens of bottles of chemical substances can be found in a corridor. A student said they would be carried away, and added that it is a very toxic chemical substance. “Where will it go?” The student shook his head: “A rubbish dump”.

At N. Institute, H., a staff at the laboratory, led reporters to a toilet near the laboratory and showed them a hole, through which water goes directly into the sewer beneath the institute. H. said that people always pour chemical substances which have been treated to reduce toxicity into the hole, while solid waste is put into the institute’s dustbin as normal garbage.

Seeking the solution to laboratory waste

Toxic waste must be put into closed pots. However, it remains unclear where the pots end up.

“I always leave the pots at the waste treatment place of the institute. I hope someone helps treat the waste,” he said.

Vinh, Deputy Head of the Science and Technology Division under the HCM City University of Natural Resources, said that the laboratories of the university have to treat waste after experiments.

However, the head of a laboratory said that though staffs have been following the regulations on waste treatment, in many cases, they do not know how to deal with situations that arise which are not mentioned in the regulations.

Regarding the treatment of exhaust fumes from laboratories, an expert from the Labour Safety and Environment Research Institute said that no equipment can treat all different chemical substances, while there are many different types of exhaust fumes from laboratories.

The expert said that to date, no legal provision forces laboratories to treat exhaust fumes before the fumes go into the environment.

The volume of waste from laboratories is not as big as in foreign countries. However, it is now the right time to think of solutions to the problem, or it will harm the lives of people and damage the environment.

Le Quynh