The Ministry of Agriculture and Environment has submitted to the Ministry of Justice for appraisal the Draft Decree stipulating penalties for administrative violations in the field of environmental protection, replacing Decree 45/2022.
In which there is a proposal to stipulate: "Fining from 500,000 VND to 1,000,000 VND for acts of households, individuals, agencies, organizations, production, business, service establishments, investors building and operating infrastructure in concentrated production, business, service areas, industrial clusters (with domestic solid waste arising with a total volume of less than 300kg/day) not classifying domestic solid waste according to local government regulations; not using packaging containing domestic solid waste according to regulations".
This regulation shows efforts to tighten legal discipline, but for policies to truly go into life, the problem of synchronous infrastructure collection from the grassroots level is the root solution.
Living in an apartment building in Thanh Xuan ward (Hanoi), Ms. Nguyen Thi Thuy said that waste sorting has long become a habit of residents thanks to the management board arranging a separate collection system for each type of waste right in the living area.
In contrast, Ms. Pham Hang Nga (O Cho Dua ward, Hanoi) faces more difficulties in collecting daily waste.
Living with a family of six, she said that everyone in the house is used to separating plastic products and milk cartons. These types of waste are all washed and recycled. However, for other types of domestic waste, re-sorting is difficult. The waste collection process still combines all types onto the same moving vehicle.
I cannot just leave domestic solid waste in my family's living space, and wait for it to be collected according to regulations" - Ms. Nga said.
Assessing this issue, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Bui Thi An (Director of the Institute of Natural Resources, Environment and Community Development) said that the bright spots in people's awareness of waste sorting have only stopped at the level of "sparkling" and cannot yet spread.
She analyzed that for waste sorting to achieve real efficiency, a comprehensive strategy is needed, extending from each house to the common infrastructure system on the streets, in order to avoid the situation of waste mixing up causing cross-contamination.
Management agencies must proactively listen to people, to understand the actual inadequacies, thereby synchronously deploying collection vehicles right at the grassroots level instead of just introducing penalty mechanisms.
