Co.op Mart Vietnam, Big C Da Nang and Big C Hanoi have used banana leaves to wrap foods in an effort to slash plastic waste. (Photo: VNA)Hanoi (VNA) – Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc has praised several supermarketsfor using natural alternatives in wrapping goods, saying it contributes to raisingpublic awareness of protecting the environment for the community’s benefits.
Co.op Mart Vietnam, Big C Da Nang and Big C Hanoi have used bananaleaves to wrap foods in an effort to slash plastic waste.
In his letter sent to these supermarkets on April 4, PM Phuc called on the businesscommunity, supermarkets, restaurants and hotels to join in efforts in reducingplastic bags and waste.
He suggested the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, the Ministry ofIndustry and Trade, the Ministry of Science and Technology, the Ministry ofInformation and Communications, relevant branches and local authorities encouragethe use of environmentally-friendly goods while cutting the production ofplastic bags.
Vietnam is one of Asia’s five worst polluters ofocean plastic waste, according to international organisations. With 13 milliontonnes of waste released to the ocean every year, the country ranks17th in the world for ocean plastic waste pollution.
Although there are no official statistics on theamount and varieties of plastic in the Vietnamese sea and islands, plasticwaste is easy to see in Vietnamese waters, with the country’s 112 estuaries themain gateways of plastic to the ocean.
Numbers from Vietnam’s Association of Plasticsillustrate the scale of the problem. In 1990, each Vietnamese consumed 3.8kg ofplastics per year, but 25 years later, the figure hit 41kg. As many as 1,000 plastic bags are used each minute butonly 27 percent of them are treated and recycled.
The Ministry of Natural Resources andEnvironment (MONRE) estimated that about 80 tonnes of plastic waste and bagsare thrown away every day in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City combined.-VNA
VNA
