Joining hands to treat plastic waste for a green future
In the context of increasingly high pressure on the environment by household waste pollution, waste classification at source is considered a key solution to reduce landfill waste, save resources and promote a circular economy.
According to the People's Committee of Tuyen Quang province, in order to contribute to environmental protection, towards green and sustainable development... in recent years, Tuyen Quang province has promoted the implementation of the movement "Tuyen Quang joins hands to treat waste and combat plastic waste" in the period of 2020-2025.
With the participation of all levels, socio-political organizations, people, businesses, the movement has been strongly spread, achieving many positive results.
After 5 years of implementation, the Fatherland Front (FFC) and socio-political organizations have built over 2,700 models of self-management groups, self-management routes on environmental protection, waste treatment and plastic waste prevention in residential areas and models in member organizations and schools; installed 1,700 model signs.
Self-management models have operating regulations, many groups and groups operate in a disciplined and effective manner; people's awareness and awareness have been raised; many households have proactively participated in environmental protection activities, general cleaning of village roads, and flower roads, committing to limit the use of plastic bags that are difficult to decompose, collect, and treat easily destroyed waste at home, and not littering in public places.
In particular, many residential areas and people unanimously and voluntarily contribute funds to equip trash bins and build organic landfill tanks.
The Vietnam Fatherland Front and member organizations at all levels in the province have mobilized union members, association members, members of self-management groups and people to contribute to the construction of over 71,000 tanks and pits for waste treatment; over 26,000 trash bins, over 960 trash trucks; presented 22,300 lanes to environmentally friendly markets; over 20,000 other items to support people in collecting waste; built 639 works and ecological brick models from plastic waste; total value over 8.5 billion VND; estimated amount of waste collected and treated over 95,000 tons...
Previously, when the environmental protection self-management model had not been implemented, each household had a different type of trash can, and without a can, they brought trash bags to the street, which was very unsightly. Now, garbage is collected carefully, without causing environmental pollution, making it convenient for workers to collect.
Promoting the achieved results, the Provincial Fatherland Front will continue to strengthen propaganda and mobilization work to mobilize people to implement the Law on Environmental Protection 2020 and documents of the Central Government and the province related to environmental protection and plastic waste control.
Innovation, diversify the content and forms of propaganda, to continue raising people's awareness in participating in environmental protection, change the habit of using disposable plastic products with environmentally friendly products.
The Vietnam Fatherland Front at all levels continues to guide the maintenance and improvement of the quality of activities of self-management groups in residential areas on environmental protection, collection, treatment of waste and prevention of plastic waste; promoting the role of the people in environmental protection and prevention of plastic waste.
To create a stronger and more sustainable transition, the People's Committee of Tuyen Quang province also issued Plan No. 71 dated September 23, 2025, focusing on urgent tasks to prevent and solve environmental pollution in the area.
The plan aims to improve the effectiveness of state management, mobilize maximum resources for environmental protection; strengthen control, promptly handle polluted hot spots. Relevant departments, branches, localities and units are required to proactively and synchronously and seriously implement assigned tasks.
The development viewpoint for the 2025-2030 term of the Tuyen Quang Provincial Party Committee is clearly, comprehensively and consistently defined: Economic and social development associated with environmental protection is the center; Party building is the key; cultural and human development is the foundation; strengthening national defense, security and promoting foreign affairs and international integration is an important and regular thing.
This is the strategic orientation, demonstrating the province's vision in the common development flow of the country and the times.
Notably, in four specific groups of indicators by 2030, the environment is valued. The Congress set a target of maintaining the forest coverage rate of 62.2%; raising the rate of urban solid waste collection and treatment to 95%; 100% of industrial parks in operation have centralized wastewater treatment systems that meet standards.
These figures affirm Tuyen Quang's commitment to sustainable development, considering environmental protection as both an immediate task and a long-term strategy.
A meaningful step
It can be seen that environmental protection is identified as one of the important pillars of the national target program on new rural construction. According to the Government's orientation, localities need to focus on thoroughly treating rural environmental pollution, especially household waste, craft village wastewater, livestock waste and packaging of pesticides after use
Decree 45/2022 of the Government regulating administrative sanctions for violations in the environmental field clearly states that "a fine of VND 500,000 to VND 1 million shall be imposed on households and individuals who do not classify domestic solid waste according to regulations".
Speaking with Lao Dong, Associate Professor, Dr. Bui Thi An - Director of the Institute of Natural Resources, Environment and Community Development - said that implementing waste classification at source is difficult, requiring a suitable roadmap and large economic potential to be able to implement synchronously.
The biggest bottleneck at present is the lack of synchronization in management. When people have classified waste but the collection process is mixed, the belief and motivation to change behavior will be quickly extinguished. Therefore, ensuring that after-classification waste is collected, transported and treated separately is a key factor to create consensus in society.
"Currently, although it is time to implement waste classification at source, not all areas can do it because there are many difficulties and problems in the implementation process.
Therefore, to implement effectively, localities need to review each area; study models in places where waste classification has been successfully implemented at source, thereby adjusting and applying them to suit the conditions of each area. This will take a lot of time and money, but if not done quickly and early, the waste classification process at the source will be even longer and more difficult to implement," Associate Professor, Dr. Bui Thi An shared.
According to Associate Professor, Dr. Bui Thi An, to classify waste at source into a real action, it requires the participation of four entities: government, businesses, community and press.
The government plays a coordinating role; businesses innovate technology and services; communities maintain green living habits; and the press spreads information and supervises implementation. When waste classification is associated with practical benefits such as reducing collection fees, accumulating reward points, or the title of "green residential area", people's positive behavior will be maintained for a long time.
The expert emphasized that classifying waste at source is a very meaningful step in the journey to build and develop the economy of poor areas. This helps reduce pressure on the environment, save waste treatment costs, and create a source of recycled materials for production. When organized properly, waste classification also opens up new livelihoods for people through collection, recycling, and production of organic fertilizer.
More importantly, this activity contributes to raising public awareness, forming green, sustainable living habits, thereby creating a long-term foundation for economic development associated with environmental protection in areas with many difficulties.
