A waste treatment plant in southern Cà Mau Province. —VNA/VNS Photo

HÀ NỘI — Cooperation in waste management and the building of emission-free circular economy was highlighted at the third meeting of the Joint Committee of Việt Nam’s Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment (MoNRE) and Japan’s Ministry of the Environment on Wednesday.

According to the Vietnam Environment Administration under the MoNRE, Việt Nam has faced a number of new issues in the collection of fees for domestic solid waste gathering, transport and treatment, and the roadmap for the reduction of production and import of goods with microplastic components.

Vice Director of the administration Nguyễn Thượng Hiền said that in 2021, in order to support the implementation of the Law on Environmental Protection 2020, Japan's sharing of experience in waste management and implementation of other relevant regulations is very necessary, especially those related to managing solid waste and criteria in choosing urban and rural domestic waste treatment technologies and models, and the collection of fees for domestic solid waste gathering, transport and treatment.

The Ministry of Environment of Japan agreed to continue cooperation and share information with Việt Nam on the building of relevant standards and criteria as well as the building of legal documents in preventing, sorting, transporting, recycling and treating waste.

Japan can support Việt Nam by sending its experts to help in building and reviewing guiding documents on the implementation of the Law on Environmental Protection 2020.

The two sides will soon hold a video conference to clarify issues related the building of circular economy to protect the environment.

Việt Nam proposed that the Japanese side continue to implement work related to the intensive research for economic tools in managing domestic solid waste to contribute to building the circular economy, thus assisting Việt Nam in designing decrees and circulars to guide the implementation of the law.

Hideki Wada, a Japanese expert, said that the Japanese side has chosen the two localities of Bắc Ninh and Bình Dương for support.

In Bắc Ninh, the supporting activities include making region-based planning on waste management, controlling targeted waste through waste sorting at source and building plans for waste management with pilot models in a commune, he said.

Meanwhile, Japan will help Bình Dương control targeted waste like it does in Bắc Ninh. However, with difficulties facing the southern province in waste treatment, Japan will help the province in making a pre-feasibility study for a waste-to-power project and estimating risks of the project, he added.

He said that currently, the two localities are working with advisory agencies to make a report on specific necessary support activities to submit to the Japan’s Ministry of the Environment. — VNS