People in Hanoi gather recycled waste and exchange for presents as part of a campaign which encourages local community to classify waste at source (Photo: VNA)Hanoi (VNS/VNA) - The Ministry of NaturalResources and Environment is considering revising the Law on EnvironmentalProtection which took effect in 2014.
Three core topics set for amendment are removing requiredenvironmental licenses, assessing the environmental impacts of projects and thetreatment of solid domestic waste.
Minister of Natural Resources and Environment Tran Hong Hasaid the five-year-old law needed updated to keep up with the changes of thecountry and of the world.
“Environmental problems have not been properly addressed. Thebiggest crisis is we have not found a sustainable development model.
“It’s time to build a comprehensive and synchronised law toensure it proves efficient in practice. The new law must create a‘revolutionary’ change in public behaviour towards the environment,” he said.
For the first time, the local community could be considered‘environmental protectors’ granted authority to monitor environmentalprotection activities and hold dialogues with lawmakers about the environment.
While the current law on environmental protection encouragesthe public to take action to protect the environment, the revised law proposesthe specific rights and obligations of communities, for example, the‘polluter-pays principle’ in which polluters must pay fees for the garbage theydischarge based on weight and the amount of waste instead of a flat fee.
The proposal will encourage people to classify waste at the sourceto reduce the amount of discharged waste by levying high fines for failing todo so.
Under the proposed changes, waste collectors would have theright to refuse to collect garbage if the waste is not properly classified.
According to the Vietnam Environment Administration, theproduction of domestic solid waste has been increasing in both quantity andcomposition, putting pressure on the environment. It is estimated the amount ofdomestic solid waste generated each day nationwide is about 60,000 tonnes, ofwhich 60 percent is from urban areas. By 2025, the rate of domestic solid wastegeneration is forecast to increase by 10-16 percent year.
To tackle this, the environmental protection bill regulatesthat the disposal of recyclable solid waste, if classified properly, will befree of waste collection, transportation and treatment fees.
Households have to pay those fees if the solid waste is notrecyclable or properly classified.
After collecting opinions from National Assembly deputies,the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment has classified solid wasteinto three groups instead of five, namely recyclable solid waste, food wasteand domestic solid waste.
Experience from Japan shows Vietnam should emphasise the roleand responsibility of producers in domestic solid waste management.
Japanese consultant Hideki Wanda said more than half ofdomestic waste comes from businesses, meanwhile, in Tokyo it is more thantwo-thirds. Therefore, to minimise the amount of generated waste, it isnecessary to take action on waste released by both households and businesses.
Another big change in the draft revised law on environmentalprotection is the removal of more than 40 percent of environmentaladministrative procedures. Enterprises just need to apply for one license whichcovers seven sub-licenses that they used to have to apply for one by one./.
VNA
