Converting existing waste treatment technology
The total volume of domestic waste (CTRSH) generated in Ho Chi Minh City currently averages about 14,000 tons/day. This amount of waste is being collected and transported to existing CTRSH treatment plants at 4 concentrated Solid Waste Treatment Complexes (KLHXLCTR), including: Tay Bac Area, Thai My commune and Tan An Hoi commune; Da Phuoc area, Hung Long commune and Phong Phu commune; Nam Binh Duong area, Chanh Phu Hoa ward; Toc Tien area, Chau Pha commune.
Currently, about 40% of waste is treated by technological methods such as burning, producing compost or recycling. With the role of the nation's economic locomotive, Ho Chi Minh City is conducting technology conversion for organic waste treatment to effectively implement the green growth goal, contributing to the overall sustainable development process and ensuring security in waste treatment in the city.
Ho Chi Minh City sets a target for the period 2025-2030, the rate of domestic waste recycled and treated with new technology is over 90%. To achieve this goal, Ho Chi Minh City has implemented many synchronous solutions such as focusing on converting domestic waste treatment technology of existing treatment units according to Resolution No. 28/2023 of the Ho Chi Minh City People's Council.
In June 2025, Binh Duong Water - Environment Corporation Joint Stock Company (Biwase) launched the CTRSH combustion project combined with power generation with a capacity of 500 tons/day, power generation scale of 12MW at Nam Binh Duong CTR Complex.
In addition, two waste-to-energy plants of Vietstar Joint Stock Company and Tam Sinh Nghia Investment and Development Joint Stock Company are also under construction at Tay Bac Waste Treatment Complex. It is expected that these 2 plants will be put into operation in 2026 with a capacity of 2,000 tons/day per plant.
Breakthrough direction from technology and digitization
According to Mr. Le Cong Phuong - Director of Ho Chi Minh City Urban Environment Company, environmental sanitation and domestic solid waste management of the city face many major challenges due to rapid urbanization, the volume of domestic waste generated is increasing, while requirements for the environment, urban aesthetics and especially waste security are increasingly set at a very high level to move towards green and sustainable urban development.
With the assigned task, the unit has collected and transported waste reaching nearly 1.35 million tons/year. Waste treatment at Landfill No. 3 - Phuoc Hiep reached more than 1.25 million tons (average 3.458 tons/day).
Despite achieving many positive results, in practice there are still some limitations such as: Waste classification at source is not synchronized, collection vehicles of private waste collection forces are still outdated and the landfill rate is still high. To overcome this, the unit has proposed key groups of solutions such as promoting waste classification associated with digital technology: Applying QR codes, household identification cards and smart city applications to monitor and guide people to classify waste at source. Modernizing collection and transportation: Investing in specialized vehicles using clean fuels (electricity, compressed air, LNG...); applying GPS, IoT and artificial intelligence (AI) to optimize the collection route. Innovating treatment technology: Prioritizing waste burning technology for power generation, bio-treatment and recycling to gradually reduce the rate of direct landfill. Building an intelligent management system: Using big data to forecast and publicize information about waste collection and treatment activities.
Ho Chi Minh City Party Secretary Tran Luu Quang recently had an inspection and working session on waste treatment in the city at the Northwest Solid Waste Treatment Complex.
At the working session, the Secretary of the Ho Chi Minh City Party Committee requested to ensure the progress of projects, especially waste incineration plants for electricity generation and waste treatment technology conversion projects, to be completed on schedule by 2026.
The Department of Agriculture and Environment has sent a report to the Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee on the urban environmental sanitation situation in March 2026. Although the number of pollution points tends to decrease, the recurrence of waste after treatment is still high. There are still 74 waste pollution points in wards and communes. Among these, the most worrying is 59 points that have been collected and treated but are re-occurring. Functional agencies also recorded 12 old stagnant points that have not been cleaned and 3 newly arising points.
