The 2020 Viet Nam Law on Environmental Protection (LEP), which came into force in January 2021, includes new regulations on solid waste management. Article 75 stipulates that municipal solid waste from households and individuals must be separated into a) Solid waste that can be reused and recycled; b) Food waste; c) Other household solid waste. Article 79 stipulates that households and individuals must pay based on the weight and volume of their waste no later than 31 December 2024. Volume-based fees have been widely used in Europe resulting in a significant reduction in waste.

The 31 December 2024 deadline is approaching but local authorities are struggling to implement these articles in the absence of implementation guidelines from the Ministry of Resources and Environment (MONRE).

In 2022-2023, IUCN in cooperation with the Packaging Recycling Organisation Vietnam (PRO Vietnam), which brings together most of the major national and international food and beverage companies in Viet Nam, decided to pilot volume-based waste fees in Hoi An, one of Viet Nam’s top tourist destinations located in Quang Nam Province.

In June 2022, Quang Nam Provincial People’s Committee (PPC) approved the pilot in principle. In April 2023, Hoi An City People’s Committee (CPC) issued plan No. 947/KH-UBND, which allowed IUCN and Building Up Sustainability (BUS), a local NGO, to start the pilot in Cam Nam Ward in Hoi An. Nowhere in Viet Nam has yet tested volume-based fees for domestic solid waste so this pilot is of national significance.

For full article, please see link: https://www.iucn.org/story/202309/piloting-volume-based-waste-fees-hoi-viet-nam