Partial processed agricultural goods at Binh Điền Wholesale Market in HCM City's Bình Chánh District. VNA/VNS Photo

HCM CITY – The volume of waste relative to the total agricultural produce reaching focal points in HCM City has tended to decrease thanks to partial processing at source, according to the city people’s committee.

Since 2018 city authorities have been exhorting shopkeepers at wholesale markets and relevant authorities in the provinces of Lâm Đồng and Bến Tre, the two major suppliers of agricultural produce to the city, to ban unprocessed agricultural products.

The people’s committee said the waste that came with meats, vegetables and fruits to the Bình Điền wholesale market in Bình Chánh District, Thủ Đức wholesale market and Hóc Môn wholesale market last year was 173 tonnes per night, 60-65 tonnes less than in 2018.

Over 9,200 tonnes of goods are delivered to the three markets daily.

The managements of the three markets have to spend a combined VNĐ8.5 billion (more than US$365,000) a year to collect, clean, decontaminate, transport, and treat the waste.

Lê Huỳnh Minh Tú, deputy director of the city Department of Industry and Trade, said the city would continue with the programme of partial processing at source by working more closely with related departments of Lâm Đồng Province and tightening regulations on the supply of goods to wholesale markets to reduce the amount of waste being dumped in the city. – VNS