The press award on reducing plastic pollution in the ocean was launched in Hanoi on July 20. (Source: AFP)

Jointly organised by the UNDP Vietnam, the World Wide Fund for Nature in Vietnam (WWF-Vietnam), and the VTC News e-newspaper, the press award and the photo contest aim to promote the role of the media in reducing plastic pollution in the ocean.

Patrick Harveman, UNDP Vietnam's Deputy Resident Representative, said that each year, about 8 million tonnes of plastic waste are dumped into the sea, equivalent to a truck full of garbage dumped into the sea every minute. Globally, the amount of solid plastic waste generated annually is equivalent to more than 520 trillion plastic straws, enough to wrap around the earth about 2.8 million times, he added.

Luu Duc Anh, Vice Director of the Science-Technology and International Cooperation Department at the Vietnam Administration of Sea and Islands, said that Vietnam is among countries that discharge a large amount of plastic waste into the ocean. Land-based plastic waste sources are considered the main source of waste and the discharge of this source is at a larger scale than that in the ocean, he said.

Specifically, up to 80% of plastic waste comes from the mainland, from production and human activities, the remaining 20% comes from fishing, aquaculture, and ships at sea.

Along with that, the strong development of the tourism industry along with the increase in population makes the daily amount of untreated waste discharged into the environment more and more, causing serious harm to the environment in coastal areas and islands, especially degraded seagrass and coral ecosystems in protected areas, he added.

Pointing to the increase in production and use of plastic products and low ratio of plastic recycling, Anh underlined the need to prevent the release of plastic waste into the ocean.

Contestants can submit entries to the press award on the reduction of plastic pollution in the ocean until September 30 via email address giaibaochigonn@gmail.com, or through website www.giaibaochi.giamracnhua.vn, or to the VTC News address at 18 Tam Trinh, Hanoi.

Meanwhile, all citizens in the ASEAN region can join the photo contest on white pollution and its effects on marine ecosystems. Each photographer can send five works to the contest from now until September 30. Entries can be sent to email address giaibaochigonn@gmail.com, website www.aseanphoto.livegreen.org.vn, or VTC News address at 18 Tam Trinh, Hanoi.

Further information is available at http://www.aseanphoto.livegreen.org.vn.