Crisis of Plastic Waste in Vietnam is Real

Abstract

The issue of "white pollution" at popular tourist destinations of environmental pollution is rising at an alarming rate. According to statistics, Vietnam currently ranks fourth in the world in volume of plastic waste, with approximately 730,000 tons of plastic waste going to the sea every year. Vietnam is also known as a country with twice the amount of plastic waste compared to low-income countries. Plastic waste in the ocean will destroy the natural environment, negatively affecting the lives of aquatic products. On land, plastic waste is abundant in many places and has serious impacts on human health and life. Analysts point out that, if the pace of use of plastic products continues to increase, there will be an additional 33 billion tons of plastic produced by 2050 and thus more than 13 billion tons of plastic waste will be buried. backfill into landfills or into the ocean. Meanwhile, the recycling of Vietnam's plastic waste, has not been developed. The rate of waste sorting at the source is very low, most types of waste are put together and collected by waste trucks. Plastic recycling technology used in Vietnam's major cities is outdated, low in efficiency, high in costs and polluting the environment. The paper presents the current situation of plastic waste in Vietnam as of June 2019. The authors focus on highlighting the serious "white pollution" in Vietnam, a country with a very long coastline. But the coast is really threatened by plastic waste. This is really a wake-up call to the authorities about the promulgation of policies and the people on the morality of survival with nature.