Vietnam is one of the five Asian countries to benefit from the “Ocean Plastic Turned into an Opportunity in Circular Economy” (OPTOCE) project, apart from China, India, Myanmar and Thailand.

Environmental workers sort waste on a beach of Ha Long Bay in Quang Ninh province.

This project will connect with the countries’ management agencies on natural resources and environment, which are the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment and its provincial-level departments in Vietnam, to promote public – private partnership in collecting waste and using it as materials to generate energy for cement factories.

Statistics show that these five countries have a combined population of 3 billion, about 1 billion of whom reside near rivers, lakes or seas and release about 176,000 tonnes of plastic waste each day, equivalent to 64 million tonnes annually.

Besides, some industries like cement, steel and electricity are consuming a huge amount of coal and emit more than 30 percent of the CO2 volume around the world.

The OPTOCE project is set to replace this coal amount with unrecyclable plastic waste, thus creating a solution to threats posed by plastic and greenhouse gas emission.

According to Norwegian Ambassador to Vietnam Grete Lochen, the oceans are increasingly polluted, and 80 percent of marine debris comes from land-based sources. Ocean plastic waste has become a global issue, including in Vietnam.

The project is an international action key to addressing the biggest sources of plastic litter in the oceans, she noted.

The pilot phase of this project is scheduled to begin in late 2019.

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Vietnam actively controls plastic waste

A ceremony was held in Hanoi on June 9 to launch a national campaign on plastic waste prevention in response to the UN’s call for preventing the threat of plastic waste pollution to the ecological environment and people's health. Attending the event, Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc called for practical and specific actions to control and reduce plastic waste.

PM calls for drastic measures to control and reduce plastic waste

Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc emphasised the need to take  practical and concrete measures to control and reduce plastic waste while launching a national campaign on plastic waste prevention in Hanoi on June 9.

Multi-terrain waste collection machine wins top prize at young volunteers’ creation contest

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Creative toys made out of waste materials

(BGO) – With the skilful hands and rich imagination, many youths in the northern province of Bac Giang have created the slide, seesaw, swing…from the used tyres of motorbike and car, wood and iron bar to build up the children playground.

Source: VNA