Municipal solid waste (MSW) has placed, and continues to place, significant pressure on local authorities in terms of management and treatment. A reporter from the Natural Resources and Environment Magazine spoke with Mr. Nguyen Quang Huan, National Assembly Deputy and Member of the National Assembly’s Committee on Science, Technology and Environment, about this issue.
Reporter: With more than 60,000 tonnes of municipal solid waste generated nationwide every day, local authorities are facing enormous pressure. From your perspective as a National Assembly Deputy, how do you assess the current situation of municipal solid waste treatment?
Mr. Nguyen Quang Huan: Vietnam currently generates approximately 60,000 tonnes of municipal solid waste every day, of which around 60% comes from urban areas. According to the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, more than 70% of this waste is treated through landfilling, with less than 20% being disposed of in sanitary landfills. Unsanitary landfilling is causing daily pollution of soil, water, and air. The problem is particularly serious in major cities. In addition, of the 30% of waste treated by methods other than landfilling, as much as two-thirds is incinerated in rudimentary waste incinerators, generating smoke and dust that pollute the air.
In Hanoi, approximately 7,000 tonnes of municipal solid waste are generated every day. The Nam Son landfill is currently overloaded. Hanoi has also received investment proposals from several investors to develop waste treatment facilities in Xuan Son, Nam Son, and other locations. However, only the waste-to-energy plant developed by Thien Y Environmental Energy Joint Stock Company (China) has completed a first-phase trial run. More than a year later, the plant has yet to be officially commissioned and put into operation.
In Ho Chi Minh City, approximately 10,000 tonnes of municipal solid waste are generated every day. The city attracted numerous investors to develop waste treatment facilities decades ago, but most of these projects primarily relied on landfilling. Today, most of these landfills are nearing capacity and causing serious environmental pollution on a daily basis, including the Da Phuoc landfill and the Northwest Waste Treatment Complex in Cu Chi District.
In addition, other major cities across the country are also facing difficulties in managing and treating municipal solid waste. In Can Tho, a waste-to-energy plant with a capacity of 400 tonnes per day has been operating, but it is facing issues related to emissions. The amount of ash and residue generated accounts for up to 5% of the total waste treated and may contain carcinogenic substances such as furans and dioxins. Although the residue is being collected, the ash storage facility has reached capacity, while a suitable treatment solution has yet to be found. In Hai Phong, approximately 700–800 tonnes of waste are generated each day. Some treatment facilities, such as the Trang Cat landfill and composting plant, have proven ineffective. The city is currently planning to attract investors to develop waste treatment projects using more advanced technologies.
In Da Nang, municipal solid waste has remained a pressing issue for many years, yet little progress has been made in addressing it. The Khanh Son landfill, with a capacity of 3 million tonnes of waste, has reached its full capacity and has had to be expanded several times. However, it remains at risk of becoming overloaded as the city currently generates approximately 1,100 tonnes of waste per day, equivalent to more than 400,000 tonnes per year. The area surrounding the Khanh Son landfill is plagued by foul odors and severe environmental pollution, causing considerable frustration among local residents. A 600-tonne-per-day municipal solid waste treatment project was granted an investment license more than 10 years ago, but to date, virtually no progress has been made beyond the construction of a perimeter fence to secure the site.
Some other areas have also invested in, or are beginning to invest in, waste treatment facilities, but these projects are generally small-scale and relatively ineffective. Broadly speaking, there are five waste treatment methods currently used in Vietnam: landfilling, composting, incineration using conventional incinerators, waste-to-energy incineration, and biogas production. At present, the two most common methods in Vietnam—landfilling and conventional incineration—have either been banned or are no longer encouraged.
Financial constraints, along with investment policies in this sector, also constitute significant barriers that need to be addressed. Under Resolution No. 16/2021/QH15, by 2025, 90% of municipal solid waste is required to be treated in an environmentally sanitary manner. Annual socio-economic reports have consistently indicated that this target has been met or exceeded. However, the actual figures differ considerably from the reported data, as shown by the statistics provided.
Reporter: What is your assessment of the municipal solid waste treatment technologies currently being used in Vietnam?
Mr. Nguyen Quang Huan: Manual waste incineration technology, which involves burning waste without generating electricity, has been used in some areas and has caused severe air pollution. It has since been banned because it fails to meet the requirements of the National Technical Regulation QCVN 61-MT:2016/BTNMT on municipal solid waste incinerators. Under this regulation, waste incinerators must have two combustion chambers, with the furnace temperature reaching 950°C and a minimum gas residence time of two seconds. However, this regulation is not compatible with advanced waste-to-energy incineration technologies currently used around the world.
In addition, several other waste treatment technologies are currently being applied in Vietnam. Unlike unsanitary landfills, sanitary landfilling is a method of controlling the decomposition of solid waste after it has been compacted and covered with soil. Solid waste in a landfill decomposes through biological processes, producing end products such as organic acids, nitrogen, ammonium compounds, and gases including CO₂ and CH₄. Leachate is collected and transferred to a biological treatment facility. However, rapid urbanization, combined with the increasing volume of household waste containing plastics, nylon, and other materials, has placed considerable pressure on the amount of land available for landfill sites. Alternative waste treatment solutions are therefore needed to reduce reliance on landfilling and better protect the environment. Many developed countries have already moved away from this method. Article 78, Clause 4 of Vietnam’s 2020 Law on Environmental Protection also provides for limiting the use of this technology.
Waste-to-energy incineration technology has also been piloted in several locations, including Can Tho and, more recently, Hanoi. Because Vietnamese municipal solid waste has a relatively low calorific value—only around 5 MJ/kg, compared with approximately 15 MJ/kg for household waste in Europe—and a high moisture content of 65–70%, the amount of electricity generated through the heat recovery process is relatively low. As a result, its economic efficiency is limited compared with the investment costs. Raising the combustion chamber temperature to 1,400°C to completely eliminate furans and dioxins is costly and virtually impossible under normal operating conditions without specialized combustion chambers. Using activated-carbon filters, meanwhile, is expensive, involves high operating costs, and depends heavily on proper operation and human factors. This is also why dark-colored emissions can sometimes be observed from existing incinerators, which may indicate that toxic substances such as furans and dioxins, as well as other contaminants in the waste, have not been completely destroyed. This technology therefore raises significant concerns about air pollution, which have yet to be adequately controlled.
To address the problem of low calorific value, some waste treatment plants have adopted measures such as mixing in supplementary materials, including coconut husks or rice husks, or blending 500 tonnes of municipal solid waste with an additional 100 tonnes of industrial waste to increase heat generation. However, this approach creates additional costs for purchasing supplementary materials and requires careful selection of industrial waste to prevent further pollution. A notable example of this operating model is the Thang Long Waste Treatment Plant, which is expected to begin operations in Bac Ninh in the near future.
There are also technologies such as plasma arc incineration, which can burn waste at temperatures of up to 4,000°C. However, this technology is relatively costly and has so far only been applied on a small scale, such as in laboratories, and has not yet been commercialized or widely deployed.
The third and more widely used technology is the production of compost and organic fertilizer. However, this technology also faces challenges because waste sorting at source is not yet thorough enough, which can result in heavy metals being mixed into the compost. As a result, the fertilizer is considered suitable mainly for industrial crops. If used on agricultural crops or food crops, it could damage plants and potentially contaminate the soil. Another challenge is finding markets for the resulting fertilizer. Several plants using this technology, including facilities in Hai Phong, Binh Duong, and Dong Nai, have proven to be ineffective.
Biogas technology is based on anaerobic microbial digestion to produce methane (CH₄), which is then used to fuel a boiler for electricity generation. This technology is relatively clean and well suited to organic waste. However, because municipal solid waste in Vietnam is not yet properly sorted at source and contains significant amounts of plastic bags and inorganic materials, its potential for biogas production is relatively low. One plant using this technology has had to cease operations in Quang Binh.
The Maximum Yield Technology (MYT) is a German technology based on the principles described above. It is relatively environmentally friendly and has lower investment costs than current waste-to-energy incineration technologies. MYT is a patented technology capable of efficiently producing Refuse-Derived Fuel (RDF) from organic waste. Before processing, waste is sorted using an automated system. Waste with a high calorific value is then dried and processed into RDF pellets. Countries such as Finland, Germany, and Italy have developed quality standards for RDF, making it easier to assess RDF quality. RDF is increasingly becoming an attractive alternative to fossil fuels. However, a major drawback of this technology is that it is only suitable for areas generating at least 500 tonnes of waste per day, as its investment and operating costs are higher than those of biogas or composting technologies.
Halcom Vietnam Joint Stock Company has nearly completed the procedures to acquire the rights to the MYT technology from Euwelle Environmental Technology GmbH of Germany, in preparation for applying the technology to municipal solid waste treatment in Vietnam.
Reporter: What are the main shortcomings and challenges in municipal solid waste treatment in Vietnam today?
Mr. Nguyen Quang Huan: The characteristics of municipal solid waste in Vietnam differ significantly from those in European and other developed countries. Waste in Vietnam has a high moisture content, a large proportion of organic matter, is generally not sorted at source, and is transported using an inadequate and inconsistent infrastructure. By contrast, waste in developed countries tends to have lower moisture content due to drier climates, is sorted at source, and is transported under well-managed systems. Therefore, directly applying waste-to-energy incineration technologies from Europe, the United States, or Japan to Vietnam without adapting them to local conditions would be ineffective, both financially and technically.
At present, local authorities are struggling to identify advanced waste treatment technologies that are suitable for Vietnam’s specific waste characteristics. As a result, investment has been difficult to attract because waste treatment plants often fail to remain financially and technically viable. Domestic investors also face significant limitations in accessing information and identifying suitable technologies. When an inappropriate technology is used, waste cannot be treated thoroughly, leading to environmental pollution while generating only limited amounts of electricity or other by-products. Advanced technologies are often costly and may be well suited to European waste, which tends to be relatively dry and sorted at source. However, when applied in Vietnam without appropriate adaptation, they can result in environmental pollution and generate insufficient revenue to ensure economic viability.
Therefore, enterprises seeking to invest in waste treatment need to ensure two key factors. First is technological sustainability: they need access to advanced technologies that can effectively treat waste without causing pollution. Second is financial sustainability: the technology must be capable of producing high-value, marketable products that generate sufficient revenue to cover borrowing costs as well as operation and maintenance expenses. A waste treatment plant should have two main sources of revenue. The first is the waste treatment fee, which is currently around US$20–21 per tonne of incoming waste. The second is revenue from products generated after waste treatment, which may include electricity, gas, RDF (Refuse-Derived Fuel) pellets, organic fertilizer, as well as recyclable materials such as iron, steel, glass, and construction materials.
The availability of land for waste treatment facilities is also constrained by current legal barriers. Under the Law on Environmental Protection, waste treatment is supposed to be prioritized, and investors should be provided with cleared land for plant construction. However, under the Land Law, the use of land is subject to land auction procedures. The Law on Bidding also presents practical difficulties in this regard, particularly regarding whether land-use rights should be put out to tender first or the selection of waste treatment technology should come first. In some localities, bidding processes have resulted in investors with strong financial capacity being selected to use the land, but these investors may lack expertise in waste treatment technology and plant operation. Conversely, investors with advanced technologies may be unable to participate in land-use rights auctions because the conditions, land area, or location do not match their requirements. At present, central ministries and agencies have yet to provide specific guidance to local authorities on the process for selecting investors for municipal solid waste treatment projects, leaving local governments uncertain about how to proceed. In some cases, meeting the requirements of technologically capable investors could potentially conflict with existing legal regulations.
Reporter: In your view, what kind of policies are needed to ensure effective municipal solid waste treatment?
Mr. Nguyen Quang Huan: During the 2022 hearing on municipal solid waste, the National Assembly’s Committee on Science, Technology and Environment recommended that relevant agencies coordinate to establish a process for selecting investors, as well as investment incentive policies for local authorities. This is the first step that needs to be taken to help local governments overcome difficulties in selecting suitable investors capable of treating waste in accordance with local conditions, including the volume of waste generated, the local government’s ability to pay, and the composition of the waste, whether or not it is sorted at source.
The second issue is the preparation of land for waste treatment facilities. In general, advanced technologies do not require large amounts of land. For example, under the MYT technology, a facility treating 1,000 tonnes of waste per day would require only around 5–6 hectares of land, compared with 20–30 hectares currently allocated in some localities. However, investors need to be provided with cleared land quickly and efficiently so that they can focus solely on investment and construction, thereby enabling environmental problems to be addressed as soon as possible.
Local authorities should also study and select the technology best suited to their specific conditions before organizing bidding processes. This would allow the technology selection criteria to be more focused rather than overly broad, helping attract investors whose technologies meet the relevant technological, economic, social, and environmental requirements. Bidding processes must be conducted openly and transparently. Local authorities should also commit to ensuring a stable supply of waste, with a minimum volume as required, so that investors can have confidence in the availability of feedstock at reasonable costs.
Domestic enterprises with expertise and experience in waste treatment should be encouraged to participate, particularly those that own proprietary technologies, have the capacity to form partnerships or joint ventures with foreign companies, and can secure financing as well as provide equipment, technology transfer, and operational support. It may be necessary to pilot a model in which an investor is appointed to implement a waste treatment project in one locality, with a treatment capacity of 1,000–2,000 tonnes per day, before replicating the model in other localities. This would be a suitable approach to addressing the municipal solid waste challenge currently facing Vietnam. A major breakthrough requires strong political determination at both the central and local levels. This would contribute to environmental protection, the development of a green economy, and sustainable development in line with the objectives set out in Resolution No. 24-NQ/TW of the 11th Party Central Committee.
Reporter: Thank you very much for sharing your insights, Mr. Huan!
Source: Tai nguyen & Moi truong Newspaper