Challenges and opportunities to approach zero waste for municipal solid waste management in Ho Chi Minh City

Abstract

Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC) is a mega city with a total population of more than ten million. The quantity of solid waste generated has been increasing significantly over the past two decades, and the average generated solid waste was 1,164 tonnes/day in 1992 and 8,845 tonnes/day in 2017. Municipal solid waste (MSW) management has been considered as one of the most severe environmental problems as the quantity of solid waste has increased while infrastructure for collection and treatment is not sufficient. The paper focuses on evaluating challenges and suggesting opportunities for reducing the amount of waste disposal in landfills through interception and separation of the waste at source. After the waste separation, the biodegradable organic materials and recyclable materials from MSW can be collected for further use. Based on the current situation of MSW management, technologies such as composting, biogas recovery and electricity generation either from anaerobic digestion plants or sanitary landfills are appropriate. Incineration for high calorific value waste can be adopted for energy recovery. Effective recycling technologies to convert waste into valuable products seem to be a solution for approaching zero waste for MSW management in HCMC.