HANOI, July 18 (Xinhua) -- Vietnam annually discard some 25 million tons of domestic solid waste, of which 70 percent are buried at landfills and 30 percent are incinerated or made into compost, local media on Thursday quoted the country's Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment as reporting.
Hanoi alone discards 6,000 tons of solid waste each day, of which 90 percent are buried at landfills, daily newspaper Tien Phong (Pioneer) quoted the ministry as reporting.
Up to 70 percent of domestic solid waste are buried, but many landfills do not meet environmental requirements, polluting the environment and meaning Vietnam fails to recycle most of garbage, online newspaper VnExpress quoted Nguyen Thuong Hien, head of the Waste Management Department under the ministry's Vietnam Environment Administration, as saying.
According to Vietnamese deputy minister of planning and investment Dang Huy Dong, Vietnam should choose gasification to deal with solid waste since this technique converts the waste into such useful products as fertilizers, fuels and chemicals.
The Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment is encouraging localities to build waste-to-energy plants to help realize the country's target of reducing the rate of burying solid waste at landfills to 30 percent by 2025.
