The Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment’s Vietnam Environment Administration (VAE) organised a seminar in Ho Chi Minh City on June 12, selecting a waste treatment model that suitable for Vietnam’s development conditions.

A lack of proper solutions to the problem is harming the environment.

According to VEA deputy general director Nguyen Hung Thinh, fast-growing economy and population growth pose great challenges in waste management and treatment.

Urban citizens dump about 38,000 tonnes of waste per day while the amount generated in rural areas is 32,000 tonnes, he said, stressing that only 85 percent of the garbage is treated in cities and some 40-50 percent in rural localities. 

As a lack of proper solutions to the problem is harming the environment, Thinh called sector, branches and localities to apply advanced technologies as well as enhance technology transfer between domestic and foreign firms to better treat waste. 

Park Jung-jun, deputy director of the Republic of Korea’s Ministry of Environment’s Environmental Industry and Economy Division, stressed that the RoK has overcome various environmental issues, and it has developed the world’s leading technologies for waste treatment. 

The RoK is able to provide a wide range of environmental equipment and solutions which suit conditions in each country, he said, adding that the country has operated 377 environmental projects in 82 countries worldwide, including Vietnam.

Park said in the coming time, the RoK will boost international cooperation in the sector, supporting developing countries with their environmental improvement plans by inviting experts to study RoK’s waste treatment models, and providing training courses for Vietnamese officials and experts.

Meanwhile, Mai Huy Tan, director of the Vientam-Germany Bridge Ltd, said that Germany’s INTEC-Thermolytic Cracking Process (TCP) technology can treat all kinds of waste without classification at source. Besides, the belt chain can work more than 30 years and does not cause any harm to the environment.

The seminar was held on the sidelines of the 11th International Exhibition on Environmental Technology, Energy and Environmentally-friendly Products (ENTECH Vietnam 2019) at the Saigon Exhibition and Convention Centre (SECC) in HCM City's District 7, which takes place from June 12-14.