By Joe Fotalattee
The recent release of a World Bank study is raising awareness of the severity of Vietnam’s plastics pollution. Findings would be obvious for those of us who can see millions of civilians sipping like toddlers from sippy cups while sitting inside cafes. Perhaps, you don’t need that single milk tea delivered across town cradled in plastic coverings. Vietnam needs to regulate the plastics industry, and businesses need to be more socially responsible and accountable. Takeout habits need to be curbed as Styrofoam food containers were among the top five items in waterway pollution.
Here are some other key findings:
- Plastic waste was by far the most prevalent type of waste found in the field surveys, making up roughly 94 percent.
- The most common sources of plastic waste were waste from take-out food packaging (44 percent), waste from fisheries (33 percent), and waste from households (22 percent).
- Single-use plastic (SUP) items made up 72 percent (in number) of the total plastic waste found at riverbanks.
- 71% of the coastal sites surveyed were classified as having extremely poor cleanliness according to the Clean Coast Index (CCI) measurement.
The World Bank study was carried out from July 2020 to April 2021 in response to a request from the Government of Vietnam. Its goal was to gain a deeper understanding of the various plastic waste types that leak into rivers and the ocean in Vietnam and to identify alternatives.
The report covered three areas:
1- Field surveys on riverbanks and at coastal sites to assess the level of plastic pollution and the top 10 polluting items
2- Remote sensing and net trawl surveys to track plastic waste in waterways that flow into the ocean
3- Examining substitutes for Vietnam’s most polluting plastic products