Domestic solid waste (DSW) is solid waste generated in daily human activities. According to statistics in 2022, the amount of DSW generated in Quang Tri province is about 126,921.4 tons, of which the proportion of DSW in urban areas accounts for 47.4%, equivalent to 60,202.8 tons/year, the proportion of DSW in rural areas accounts for 52.6%, equivalent to 66,718.6 tons/year.
Household waste was classified by people before being taken to the centralized landfill - Photo: TN
Currently, districts, towns and cities in the province have established centers, companies and cooperatives to collect and transport solid waste to centralized landfills. Thereby, the rate of collected solid waste has increased significantly, and means and equipment for collection, transportation and treatment have been gradually invested and upgraded.
Currently, the rate of collection and treatment of solid waste in urban areas is about 98%, in rural areas about 77.3%. Up to now, the province has invested in 8 solid waste landfills, 1 landfill is under construction, and 3 incinerators.
Currently, waste is mainly treated by landfill, a small part is treated by incineration. In general, solid waste has been focused on collection, ensuring environmental hygiene, limiting the impact on urban aesthetics.
In addition to the achieved results, the collection, transportation and treatment of domestic waste in the province still have some shortcomings and limitations. First of all, the propaganda work on classification, collection, treatment of domestic waste and environmental protection (EP) is not really extensive and effective, has not created a change from awareness to action; has not attached the responsibility of the community and people for environmental protection in community activities; the awareness of a part of the people, organizations and units about the collection, transportation and treatment of waste is still limited; compliance with regulations on environmental protection, payment of fees for collection, transportation and treatment of domestic waste is not yet guaranteed. The classification of waste at source in localities is slow and not synchronous, and the effectiveness in urban areas is not high.
The main reason is that the previous law on environmental protection did not have mandatory regulations on classifying solid waste at source, but only at the incentive level; people were not proactive or did not have the habit of classifying household waste.
The means and equipment for collection and transportation are still lacking and not synchronized, not meeting the requirements, leading to low collection frequency. In some localities, after sorting, due to lack of means, waste is collected and transported together, leading to failure to achieve the classification goal.
Solid waste planning and management have not been implemented in a timely and complete manner, and there are still many limitations (the planning of treatment areas is still fragmented, not strategic and long-term; the construction of treatment areas, collection points, and transfer points is still inadequate, dependent on state resources, many places are spontaneous and do not follow the planning, and do not ensure environmental hygiene...). Some localities do not have treatment areas. Currently, there are still many waste collection points that are not in accordance with the planning; the phenomenon of long-term waste collection, messy collection, manual burning or burying or both burning and burying waste at transfer points still occurs in some localities.
Waste treatment technology is generally backward, mainly treated by landfill (92% by landfill, 8% by incineration). Most landfills do not pay attention to the operating process, many of which are causing secondary pollution. Some landfills have stopped receiving waste, and are currently in a state of disarray but have not been closed according to technical procedures (old landfills in Cua Tung town, Ben Quan town of Vinh Linh district); some landfills and treatment areas do not meet the prescribed standards but are still operating, causing public outrage, such as the landfills in Khe Sanh town and Lao Bao town, Huong Hoa district.
The socialization of environmental services is still slow and faces many difficulties, especially in financial mechanisms, capital, procedures, operating models, management models, and investment efficiency evaluation. Budget revenue is still limited, so investment costs for waste collection and treatment have not met requirements. The incentive and attraction mechanisms for socialization have not created an attractive motivation for businesses to invest in waste treatment.
On the other hand, with the current amount of waste collected at about 348 tons/day, it is expected that this amount of waste will gradually increase in the coming years, so the processing capacity of current landfills cannot meet the needs of solid waste treatment.
The construction of landfills takes up a lot of land, and it is difficult to mobilize capital to build landfills. However, according to Plan No. 530/KH-UBND dated February 11, 2019 of the Provincial People's Committee on implementing the national strategy on integrated solid waste management to 2025, with a vision to 2050 in Quang Tri province, the goal is: "By 2025, 85% of the remaining urban areas will have solid waste recycling facilities suitable for household classification; the rate of solid waste treated by direct landfilling will be less than 30% of the amount of waste collected".
To achieve this goal, there must be great efforts and investments. On December 1, 2020, the Prime Minister issued Directive No. 41/CT-TTg on a number of urgent solutions to strengthen solid waste management, including some directives to the Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee such as: "Review and evaluate existing waste treatment technology in the area, requiring treatment facilities to have a roadmap for innovating waste treatment technology to meet environmental protection requirements, to be implemented before 2023"; “There is a roadmap to gradually increase the price of waste collection, transportation and treatment services to gradually reduce support from the state budget”, “Specify the form and level of funding that households and individuals must pay for the collection, transportation and treatment of solid waste based on the mass or volume classified according to the provisions of the Law on Environmental Protection”, “Strive to reduce the proportion of waste treated by direct landfill to below 30% by the end of 2025”.
To implement the Plan of the Provincial People's Committee and Directive No. 41/CT-TTg, the Law on Environmental Protection 2020 and related regulations, to solve urgent problems regarding current and future waste treatment needs, the Department of Natural Resources and Environment has developed a project: "Assessing the current situation and developing a project to classify solid waste at source in Quang Tri province by 2025, with a vision to 2030", which has been approved by the Provincial People's Committee in the outline and task estimate in Decision No. 2769/QD-UBND dated October 28, 2022.
The development of this project is not only in accordance with the provisions of the Law on Environmental Protection 2020 and the Government's decrees but also in accordance with the socio-economic development situation of the province, associated with the goals of new rural construction. At the same time, it focuses on leadership, direction, mobilization of participation of all levels and sectors and raising awareness and consciousness of people in the collection, transportation and treatment of solid waste.
Tan Nguyen
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