Advantages and disadvantages of a municipal solid waste collection service for citizens of Hanoi City, Vietnam

Abstract

Governments of municipalities in Vietnam experiencing dynamic economic growth and dramatic population increases have been struggling to manage increased amounts of municipal solid waste (MSW). This study aimed to clarify the advantages and disadvantages of the current MSW collection service for citizens of the four central districts of Hanoi city, Vietnam, by conducting interviews with 200 households and 200 business entities regarding their satisfaction with the service. The survey results showed that Hanoi city provides an economical collection service with sufficient frequency and at appropriate times for citizens. However, a number of citizens complained about unsanitary conditions in the area surrounding their residence. Business entities had sufficient motivation to sell recyclable waste (RW) to the informal sector, not only to derive revenue from selling RW, but also to reduce the amount of MSW generated, thus reducing the MSW collection fee. Households were not motivated to reduce MSW by selling RW to the informal sector because they paid a fixed collection fee. As a result, an improvement in living standards in the near future is expected to contribute to increasing the amount of MSW generated from households.

Designing effective partnerships for waste-to-resource initiatives: Lessons learned from developing countries

“…Within developing countries, rising MSW is often managed with little technical capacity and inadequate resources (Kawai and Osako, 2013;United Nations Human Settlements Programme, 2010). Open dumping and burning of MSW is commonly practised across the region, leading to a range of problems (Ball and Rodic-Wiersma, 2010).…”

Bridging Actors in Sustainable Innovation for Developing Countries? Partnerships, Social Construction of Technology and Solid Waste Management in Vietnam and Uganda

“…Japanese development cooperation activities are playing an important role in Vietnam (AIT/UNEP RRC.AP, 2010), in recognizing the need to improve practice and awareness at the waste generation stage (Phuong et al, 2012). Under a technical support program dealing with the development of a 'Sound Material-Cycle Society', the Japanese development agency, JICA implemented a pilot project 2006-2009 on source segregation of household waste in four selected districts in Hanoi (Taniguchi and Yoshida, 2011;Kawai and Osako, 2013). Similar projects have also been implemented in other major cities such as Da Nang and Ho Chi Minh City (Thai, 2014).…”