Hoi An City in Quang Nam Province, central Vietnam is conducting a pilot program where 450 households along Nguyen Tri Phuong Street purchase plastic bags based on volume to store domestic waste.
As usage increases, so does the size of the garbage bag, resulting in higher fees.
Nguyen The Hung, vice-chairman of the administration in Hoi An, told Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper that the city chose Cam Nam Ward to pilot volume-based waste fees since mid-2023 with the support from the International Union for Conservation of Nature.
Households on Nguyen Tri Phuong Street have classified their waste into three categories.
Food waste is put in transparent white plastic bags with green words. Waste which can be reused is treated by households themselves.
Other kinds of solid waste are put in white plastic bags with black words.
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| A resident in Cam Nam Ward, Hoi An City puts garbage in a plastic bag designed for waste storage. Photo: B.D. / Tuoi Tre |
Participating households have been provided with 10-, 15-, 20-, 30- and 40-liter plastic bags at a respective price of VND1,900 (US$0.08), VND5,000 ($0.2), VND7,500 ($0.3), VND10,000 ($0.4), and VND15,000 ($0.6) apiece.
Rather than paying the typical waste collection fee of VND30,000 ($1.2) per household, residents of Nguyen Tri Phuong Street have opted to purchase plastic bags. With the same amount of VND30,000, they can acquire either 16 bags of 10 liters, six bags of 15 liters, or four bags of 20 liters.
The waste is collected by garbage trucks as normal.
Huynh Pham Thuy Lan, vice-chairwoman of the Cam Nam Ward People’s Committee, said that the guiding principle is households generating larger amounts of waste will need to purchase more plastic bags.
However, during the pilot program in Hoi An, the majority of participating households have initially purchased VND30,000 worth of plastic bags.
Once these bags are used up, they can resort to their own supply of plastic bags.
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| Instructions on how to classify garbage on a plastic bag. Photo: B.D. / Tuoi Tre |
A resident residing on Nguyen Tri Phuong Street said that the success of the pilot program hinges on households’ level of awareness.
They noted that many people only purchase the minimum number of required plastic bags and then resort to using their own, sometimes leading to littering on the roads.
Vo Thi Ba, who runs an eatery in Cam Nam Ward, shared that her family purchased some plastic bags for waste disposal but would utilize regular plastic bags if they exhausted their supply of the ones specifically designated for waste storage.
Dang Thi Hiep, another resident on Nguyen Tri Phuong Street, said that under the volume-based waste fee collection program, the fee is expected to be significantly higher than the previous VND30,000 charge.
Nevertheless, Hiep voiced her support for the initiative, citing its fairness as a key factor.
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| Waste left on Nguyen Tri Phuong Street in Hoi An City. Photo: B.D. / Tuoi Tre |
Hoi An City vice-chairman Hung affirmed that the program needed improving but it would be a trend in the future.
The number of households supporting the program has increased, currently half of the piloted households.
Hoi An will propose expanding the program soon, Hung added.
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