Solid waste management practice in a tourism destination – The status and challenges: A case study in Hoi An City, Vietnam

Abstract

This study aims to present waste characterisation, solid waste management practice and analyse the challenges in the solid waste management system in the tourism destination of Hoi An City, Vietnam. The sampling and questionnaire surveys were conducted for measuring characterisation and management practice of solid waste. A material flow analysis method was used for analysing the waste flow. The results show that the tourism destination generated daily around 15080 kg t of waste, in which the significant proportions come from restaurants (46%), hotels (22%) and households (13%). The feature of the waste composition is high rates of kitchen waste (46.8%), tissue (11.54%) and recyclable materials (12.58%), which result in high moisture (46.79%) and a low heating value (16,866 kJ kg-1) of waste. Also, solid waste management practices were evasively implemented by stakeholders with low rates and efficiency. Furthermore, a substantial gap of the solid waste management system is the confusion in waste collection activities, which is shown by the overload of waste in street bins and the financial loss for the solid waste management system owing to the non-compliance with collection regulation of stakeholders. Also, the mixing of waste by collection crews after separation at sources, the in-appropriation of collection time and manner are the dark points of the solid waste management system that may be causes of the non-cooperation of stakeholders. These gaps and confusion in the solid waste management system are the significant challenges in the improvement of the solid waste management system in the tourism destination toward sustainability.