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| It is necessary for Vietnam to make plans for collecting lead batteries in the whole country |
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After coming into use, the law has made a large contribution to protecting the environment in Vietnam. However, five years after, Article 67 defining businesses' responsibility to collect and treat expired products and waste has not come into effects. Meanwhile, waste from electronic products, tyres and tubes, cars, batteries, oil and packing products are difficult to disintegrate, thus doing serious harm to the environment.
The situation of collecting and treating waste in Vietnam
Waste from automobiles, motorbikes and electronic products has been rapidly increased in Vietnam, threatening the environment and people's health due to containing toxic chemicals. Therefore, it is necessary to have synchronized technical, management and economic methods to collect and recycle this waste and protect the environment.
According to the research project on building and assessing the ability of applying the model of collecting batteries from expired products and waste, each year, the country uses 8.328 tonnes of lead-acid batteries in transport means. The average life-span of batteries used in cars is two years. Every year, about 120,000 televisions, video players, radio cassettes, washing machines and refrigerators have been eliminated.
Different from normal waste, a large percentage of waste from electronic products and batteries can be recycled because they contain precious metals. However, Vietnam has many weaknesses in collecting and recycling this type of waste. Just households and individuals collect this waste. There is insufficient participation of related organizations and individuals such as businesses, producers, importers, distributors and consumers. This has led to serious environmental pollution and has negative influence on people's health.
At present, just craft villages, household-sized businesses and private companies recycle waste from electronic products and batteries. However, due to using out-moded technology, those businesses have achieved low economic efficiency and created environment pollution, doing harm to the health of workers and people living around those businesses. To waste which can not be recycled, burying is a popular treatment methods in Vietnam. However, 74 percent of burying waste places do not meet standards. Thus, toxic chemicals have been leaked out to the environment, creating potential risks for people and living beings.
Enhancing efficiency of the Law on Environmental Protection
At present, Article 67 of the 2005 Law on Environmental Protection mentions waste collection and treatment. In 2010, to specify the law and enhance responsibility of businesses and the society to collect and treat waste, the Vietnam Environmental Administration has drafted the Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment Directive (WEEE Directive) including four chapters and 17 provisions.
The draft says that producers and importers must take responsibility to collect and treat no more than 75 percent of the products they make and sell in the market annually. To consumers, they have to bring waste to collection places or to organizations and individuals who have enough conditions to collect and transport waste according to regulations. In addition, consumers are prohibited to jumble waste from electronic products, tyres and tubes, batteries with other types of waste.
The draft defines that businesses have to take responsibility for their products from selling them in the market to using and eliminating them. The draft also mentions methods to collect and treat this waste and the list of waste which is collected. Among those products, batteries are prioritized to be collected in 2013 and cars in 2018.
Twelve ministries, 36 provincial departments of natural resources and environment, domestic business associations and foreign business associations in Vietnam have made suggestion to the draft. Most of them agree with the necessity and the major content of the draft.
According to Naoki Sugiura, the Panasonic Vietnam director of corporate planning and brand promotion, collecting used products is a challenge to businesses. Vietnamese consumers are not aware of collecting used electronic products. They often sell those products to scrap-iron dealers for money but do not pay money to recycle those products.
Perry Gottesfeld, the executive director of Occupational Knowledge International, said: "It is necessary for Vietnam to make plan on collecting lead batteries in the whole country. Appropriate authorities and battery producers and recyclers should cooperate with each other to implement this plan. Battery buyers must pay deposit for refunding expired products or will enjoy a discount if buying new batteries and returning used products."
A motorbike seller in Hanoi thought that organizations and individuals who have enough conditions should be responsible for collecting and recycling waste.
At present, the draft is being submitted for the Prime Minister. If the draft is ratified, it will become a useful legal tool to enhance environmental management in localities.
Thu Huong
(VEN)