Trucks transfer container to HCM City’s Cát Lái Port, the common hub of plastic waste imported into Việt Nam. —VNA/VNS Photo Tiến Lực

HÀ NỘI — More than 3,800 plastic waste containers have piled up for more than 90 days at Việt Nam’s three major ports of Hải Phòng, Vũng Tàu and HCM City’s Cát Lái, according to the latest report by Việt Nam Customs.

Hoàng Văn Thức, deputy head of the Việt Nam Environment Administration, said in total there are some 6,456 containers stacked at seaports containing plastic waste and used commodities.

The Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment has developed a regulation on classifying imported waste into six groups. Ministry of Finance and Ministry of Transport have also set barriers to force enterprises and ship owners importing scrap to submit certificates of eligibility for environmental protection and declaration forms indicating whether the importing enterprise is still operational and the specific import volume.

Thức said MoNRE had filed a report on imported waste management to Prime Minister and would collaborate with related agencies to tighten control over scraps.

Prime Minister Nguyễn Xuân Phúc has tasked the ministry to investigate the containers of plastic waste.

“For stocks which violate Việt Nam’s regulations, we will force ship owners to re-export them out of the country’s territorial waters,” said Thức.

Since September 2018, Việt Nam has shown positive signs in tackling waste container problem at seaports following Prime Minister’s Directive No. 27/CT-TTg.

“503 containers of plastic waste, paper waste, metal scraps and other rubbish have been sent back to their origins due to failures to meet Việt Nam’s standards,” Thức added.

Việt Nam Customs’ data revealed a significant fall of the number of waste containers pilling up at ports across the country in 2019.

Until September 2019, 10,100 waste containers sat abandoned at ports, down from more than 22,000 at the end of 2018. — VNS