There will be 250 stations installed to collect harmful wastes in HCMC this year under the harmful waste collection week project being drafted by the HCMC Department of Natural Resources and Environment.

Specifically, HCMC will place 180 stations in residential areas, 50 stations at supermarkets and commercial centers and 20 stations at universities to collect harmful wastes such as electric bulbs, used batteries and chemical containers.

Besides, under the project worth around VND2.4 billion, there will be two collection weeks, September 3-9 and December 3-9. After that, this week-long waste collection will take place once in every quarter.

According to the department, the total volume of harmful wastes in the city amounted to some 700 tons each day. Besides, the discharge of harmful wastes and solid wastes from households poses risks to the environment as well as the community health if such wastes are not collected and treated in a proper way.

Harmful wastes in HCMC have for long only collected from households at the Waste Recycling Day once a year at just one place, which has yet to respond to the discharge of harmful wastes from households in the city.

According to the 2005 Law on Environment Protection, harmful wastes include those that are toxic, radioactive, flammable, explosive, corrosive, infectious, or poisonous, or having other hazardous characteristics. However, there are still no regulations imposed to control the harmful waste discharge from households.

Source: SGT