Many places have not yet implemented PLRTN
According to Lao Dong, the first day of applying PLRTN has passed, however, many dormitories, apartment buildings and even management agencies in Hanoi city still only apply the traditional method of waste classification - dumping all types of waste together.
At the 4F Trung Yen - Cau Giay Apartment Building, households still throw their waste into the garbage chute of each floor, then the waste will fall into the common trash bin at the storage house located right at the foot of the apartment building.
Ms. Nguyen Van Anh (name has been changed), who currently lives in the building, said that the apartment building only has one garbage chute on each floor of the apartment, so whether households sort their garbage or not, it just goes through this chute to the garbage storage. Therefore, many people do not care about PLRTN, they just open the chute door and put the garbage bag in. All kinds of paper, cardboard boxes, etc. are also thrown down with food waste, so they are damaged and can no longer be recycled.
"Normally, my family will filter out 2 types of garbage. One type is food, leftovers in the family, the rest is scrap including plastic bottles, cans. Once, I proactively put each type of garbage separately in the apartment's storage room, but after a while, the collector put them all in the trash can and took them away. After so many times like that, my family no longer sorts the garbage" - Ms. Van Anh shared.
Also according to the record, the Ecohome 1-2-3 Apartment Building (Bac Tu Liem, Hanoi) is still not equipped with 3 types of trash cans. At some places such as flower beds, service areas, swimming pools around the building, only 2-compartment trash cans are used.
Sharing with Lao Dong, Ms. Nguyen Thi Van (name has been changed), currently living in the Ecohome 2 apartment building, said that her family of 3 people throws away many different types of garbage every day, from leftover food to plastic bags, bottles, paper bags... Although they have heard about the new regulations on PLRTN, Ms. Van's family still has difficulty applying them because they have not been specifically informed about the method and the building where her family lives does not have enough 3 types of garbage sorting bins.
"My family has not yet received any instructions from the Building Management Board on the waste classification process according to the new requirements. Most of us have only read and learned through the media, so we do not know clearly whether our household's waste classification process is in accordance with the new regulations or not. If we apply fines for not classifying waste according to the regulations at this time, it is unreasonable..." - Ms. Van said.
Not only the dormitories and apartment buildings, but also the environmental management agencies have not implemented the PLRTN synchronously. According to Lao Dong's records on the morning of January 2, 2025, at the Department of Natural Resources and Environment's headquarters on Huynh Thuc Khang Street (Dong Da, Hanoi), the 3-compartment garbage sorting bins are still sealed in plastic bags and have not been used. In addition, the garbage sorting process here has not been implemented synchronously when all garbage is put into one bin located right near the entrance to the parking area for officers and employees.
Review and remove "bottlenecks" for each area
Sharing with Lao Dong, Associate Professor, Dr. Bui Thi An - Director of the Institute of Natural Resources, Environment and Community Development - said that implementing PLRTN is difficult, requiring a suitable roadmap and great economic potential to be able to implement synchronously.
"Currently, although it is time to implement PLRTN, not all areas can do it because there are still many difficulties and obstacles in the implementation process. Therefore, to implement it effectively, localities need to review each area; study the model in places where PLRTN has been successfully implemented, from there adjust and apply it to suit the conditions of each area. This will take a lot of time and money, but if it is not done quickly and early, the PLRTN process will take longer and be more difficult to implement" - Associate Professor, Dr. Bui Thi An emphasized.
Having lived in Germany for many years - one of the countries that has successfully implemented the PLRTN program, Associate Professor, Dr. Le Hung Anh - Institute of Science, Technology and Environmental Management said that with PLRTN, if we just propagate it without putting it into practice, it will lose its effectiveness over time, while this is very important and meaningful in environmental protection work.
"In classifying waste, it is important to have a suitable roadmap and depending on the capacity of each locality. Specifically, instead of dividing into 3 types, initially it should only be divided into 2 types: recyclable and the remaining type. Or for localities with waste-to-energy projects, it should be divided into burnable and non-burnable types. After a long enough time to form such a habit, move to phase 2, which is more advanced and detailed, dividing waste into 3-4 types" - Associate Professor, Dr. Le Hung Anh proposed.
Assoc. Prof. Dr. Le Hung Anh - Institute of Science, Technology and Environmental Management also noted that, in parallel with encouraging PLRTN, the important solution is to reorganize and upgrade the means and infrastructure serving the collection and treatment of waste.
