Hai Duong determined to close centralized landfills

Reduce landfill space

Before implementing the classification, collection and treatment of domestic solid waste, Binh Giang district estimated that it generated about 70 tons of domestic solid waste per day and night with diverse components. Meanwhile, the amount of daily domestic waste that is not classified has become a great pressure on the treatment of domestic solid waste in the district.

Before the merger, the district had 8 communes and towns that were supported with transportation and treatment costs at the waste treatment plant, the remaining 8 communes basically still collected, treated and buried in centralized landfills, causing many problems that affected the environment. Moreover, supporting treatment costs for 7 communes and 1 town to collect and treat all unsorted waste also put great pressure on the state budget, and was not sustainable in implementation.

Based on the above situations, the Standing Committee of the District Party Committee issued Resolution No. 21-NQ/HU dated March 19, 2024 on the implementation of classification, collection and treatment of domestic solid waste in the district to promote the classification of domestic waste in households in a practical and effective manner, creating a habit for people, gradually becoming a subconscious awareness of environmental protection.

During the initial implementation of Resolution No. 21, the situation of classifying, collecting and treating household waste in Vinh Hong and Hung Thang communes has gradually become more orderly, stable and effective. The implementation of waste classification has been largely supported by the people of the two communes.

Before implementing Resolution No. 21, Vinh Hong and Hung Thang communes both had a total landfill area of ​​over 10,000 m²After implementing Resolution No. 21, each commune only needs nearly 1,000 m² to process garbage for the whole commune, reducing 90% compared to the original area.

The amount of waste to be treated has decreased significantly, the two communes have closed 4/8 landfills (each commune closed 2 landfills). Notably, after the closure, the two localities called on Trung Quy-Bac Ninh Investment Joint Stock Company (investor of the expanded Phuc Dien industrial park) to support about 1.5 billion VND, the Vu Viet family in Tan Viet commune (in the same district of Binh Giang) joined hands to level the old landfill, reclaim land, build 4 waste collection sites to bring to the treatment plant, there are also organic waste composting cells.

The amount of organic waste that is sorted, collected and treated by composting has brought high efficiency. The amount of inorganic waste generated and transported for treatment has decreased significantly. In Vinh Hong commune, the amount of inorganic waste that needs to be treated is only 1,554 kg/day, a decrease of nearly 4,800 kg, equivalent to the cost of transportation and treatment of 987,000 VND/day, a decrease of more than 3 million VND/day compared to unsorted waste (a decrease of about 75%).

In Hung Thang commune, after classification, the amount of inorganic waste that needs to be treated is 998 kg/day, a decrease of nearly 2,600 kg, equivalent to the cost of transportation and treatment of 633,000 VND/day, a decrease of more than 1.6 million VND/day compared to unclassified waste (a decrease of about 72%).

Thanh Ha District is one of the few localities in the province that has closed almost all of its centralized landfills. This district has had 15/20 communes (before the merger) collect and transport household waste to the waste treatment plant in Viet Hong Commune (now Cam Viet Commune). It is expected that by the end of this year, the remaining 5 communes (now 4 communes due to the merger) will have their household waste collected and transported to the treatment plant.

Thanh Ha district has 31 landfills, 23 of which have stopped operating, have been leveled, planted with trees, and some have been converted into garbage collection points (to be transported to the treatment plant). The remaining landfills are in the process of being closed.

Currently, the waste collection rate in Thanh Ha district has reached about 96%, achieving the goal of collecting over 90% of the waste generated by 2025. The amount of household waste to be collected in the district has decreased to 58.7 tons/day.

Still384 landfills is active

The classification of domestic solid waste at source in some localities has significantly reduced the amount of solid waste discharged into the environment that needs to be treated. However, Hai Duong is currently piloting the model of classifying domestic solid waste at source and composting organic waste in a centralized manner according to the Project "Solid waste treatment in Hai Duong province in the period of 2021-2025, with a vision to 2030" in Nam Sach district (all communes and towns). with 39,581 households, 2 communes(Thanh Hai commune, Thanh Ha district; Cam Van commune, Cam Giang district) With 5,590 households, Binh Giang district has 2 communes (Vinh Hong and Hung Thang) with 6,029 households.

Up to now, in the province, more than 70,000 households have participated in classifying and composting organic waste, reaching only 13.3% of the total number of households. After classifying and composting, the amount of waste that must be transferred to the treatment plant has decreased by 50%.

According to the report of the Department of Natural Resources and Environment, there are currently 606 landfills in the province (9 landfills less than in 2023 because these 9 landfills in Chi Linh City are planned and not yet built). with a total volume of buried waste of about 2.6 million tons. There are 384 landfills in operation, 222 have stopped operating. Of the currently operating landfills, 78 have an occupancy rate of less than 50%, 177 have an occupancy rate of 50-70% and are still able to receive waste, and the remaining 129 have an occupancy rate of over 70%.

The whole province generates about 1,297 tons of solid waste per day and night. About 675 tons (52%) are still buried in landfills. This leads to environmental pollution, expensive treatment, and even burning of waste in many landfills, making people very upset.

“Properly handling and eventually closing down centralized landfills is a very difficult task, requiring the participation of all levels from the province down to the grassroots. In fact, where the government is interested and the people are in agreement, this will happen more smoothly,” said Mr. Duong Van Xuyen, Director of the Department of Natural Resources and Environment.

The Department of Natural Resources and Environment recommends that the Provincial People's Committee direct relevant departments and branches to develop plans to close and handle landfills that have stopped operating in the management area. In particular, focus on developing projects to immediately handle landfills located in the planning of industrial parks, clusters, urban areas, roads and other construction works. Guide the People's Committees at the commune level or investors (or management facilities) of domestic solid waste landfills to close the landfills according to the instructions in Article 32 of Circular No. 02/2022/TT-BTNMT dated January 10, 2022 of the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment and report to the Provincial People's Committee for consideration and allocation of resources and funding for the treatment and environmental improvement of domestic solid waste landfills.

Continue to pay attention to implementing waste classification at source. If the target of 100% of households classifying solid waste at source is achieved, the amount of inorganic waste that needs to be treated will be very small. At that time, centralized landfills will not need to exist, and environmental pollution will also be significantly reduced.