Economy

Part 1: The high price of convenience!

Reporters' Team • November 1, 2025 15:01

Every time they go to the market, shoppers can bring home dozens of colorful plastic bags; a quick meal is associated with styrofoam containers, plastic bottles, and disposable straws; and online orders are also incomplete without the convenient plastic packaging. This seemingly harmless "convenience" is silently building up into a giant "mountain of garbage," overflowing into rivers, streams, fields, and infiltrating meals, water sources, and even human bodies.

Author: PV Team - Publication Date: November 1, 2025

Every time they go to the market, shoppers can bring home dozens of colorful plastic bags; a quick meal is associated with styrofoam containers, plastic bottles, and disposable straws; and online orders are incomplete without the convenient plastic packaging. This seemingly harmless "convenience" is silently building up into a giant "mountain of garbage," overflowing into rivers, streams, fields, and infiltrating meals, water sources, and even human bodies. Plastic waste – the high price the environment and public health are paying for their own convenience habits.

A stroll through Hung Dung market in Truong Vinh ward reveals the full extent of the "plastic bag world." Mrs. Dinh Thi Thu Ha's pork stall consumes a kilogram of plastic bags every day. Whether it's busy or not, the amount is roughly the same. Mrs. Ha says, "With hundreds of sellers and thousands of buyers, everything from fresh and dried food to clothes, shoes, salt, and fish sauce... all use plastic bags."

Not only in markets, but also in bubble tea shops, porridge stalls, and fast food restaurants, plastic cups, styrofoam containers, and plastic straws are piled high on the tables after each customer. Online orders delivered to homes are no different, always including plastic bags and convenient plastic containers.

Ms. Kieu Thi Loan in Thanh Vinh ward owns a famous homemade food business specializing in marinated eel, braised fish, braised meat, shredded pork floss, shredded chicken, etc. Every day, thousands of orders are packaged and shipped, meaning thousands of cheap plastic containers are released onto the market. These flimsy, easily broken containers, costing only one or two thousand dong each, are convenient and inexpensive, becoming the "packaging" for each dish. Dipping sauces and broths are packaged in plastic bottles. Customers hastily open the containers, pour the sauce, enjoy their meal, and then throw the empty containers into the trash. Behind each convenient meal, plastic waste accumulates daily. Plastic waste travels from consumer hands to kitchens, and then back into the environment through trash cans. A vicious cycle with no way out.

Out in the suburbs, where garbage piles up like mountains, plastic bags are scattered in thick layers, blown about by the wind, getting caught on fences, hanging from treetops, and strewn across fields. In ditches and rivers, plastic bottles and styrofoam containers float, drift, and eventually end up in the sea. People living along the riverbanks are used to scooping up water hyacinths along with piles of plastic waste, and even fish and shrimp caught and dying in floating plastic bags. In coastal areas, fishermen sometimes find more garbage than fish when they pull up their nets.

In the morning at Lach Van (Dien Chau), the sea breeze cannot mask the foul smell from the piles of garbage and water hyacinth washed ashore. As a large estuary, Lach Van receives hundreds of boats and ships daily, but its banks are densely packed with broken styrofoam containers, bottles, plastic sandals, torn clothes, plastic bags… mixed with water hyacinth, forming long stretches of trash. When the tide rises, the waves drag the garbage back into the estuary, entangling the propellers and hindering boats. Along the sea dike, garbage is tangled around the roots of mangrove trees like traps. Whenever the drainage gates are opened, garbage from the Bung River flows down, overflowing into the sea and washing ashore at Dien Thanh beach, covering the sand. Visitors have to dodge the garbage section by section just to be able to set foot on the sand. Mr. Bui Van Long, a local resident, said: “The garbage is a recurring problem, every year. The sea takes it all, then when the sea is rough, it returns it.”

In Hai Bac hamlet, a garbage dump, located just a few steps from the dike, has existed for over a decade. The piles of garbage are immense, containing all kinds of waste: plastic bags, packaging, waste oil and grease, medical gloves, medicine bottles, etc. Leachate seeps along the embankment into the river and then into the sea. "It's very polluted, the smell is unbearable," complained Mr. Hoa, a resident of Hai Bac hamlet. Not far away, along the Tien Tien hamlet dike, garbage also overflows. Despite prohibition signs, the habit of illegal dumping continues clandestinely.

Even at the fishing port, plastic bags are everywhere. Fishermen carry tens of kilograms of plastic bags to sea, using them to sort seafood, then leave them ashore when they return to port. “Twenty kilograms of seafood can contain up to 15 different species, each requiring a separate bag for sorting and easier pricing. After weighing and packing them into baskets, styrofoam containers, and bags, they're immediately discarded at the dock, so every port is full of plastic bags,” explained fisherman Nguyen Van Tr.

Not only the coastline, but also the mangrove forests, considered the natural "armor" protecting the sea, have become dumping grounds for trash. In the mangrove forests along river mouths, trash is tightly woven and hung on the branches of the mangrove trees. During the flood season, it's swept up by the water, and when the water recedes, it's exposed to the sun. The trash then flows along the river mouths and estuaries into the sea; rain, storms, and rough seas cause it to pile up on the beaches and shore. From plastic bags, bottles, and abandoned fishing nets to tiny, non-biodegradable microplastics, everything is silently accumulating, posing an unprecedented threat of pollution to the ocean…

The immediate convenience becomes a long-term trap. Consumers have become accustomed to it and find it hard to switch. Some food processing facility owners have urged customers to bring their own containers when buying ready-made food, or to switch to paper or stainless steel containers, but the increased cost is unacceptable to customers, so they revert to single-use plastic containers. Biodegradable bags or paper containers haven't been widely adopted as replacements because they are many times more expensive, and few customers are willing to pay the extra. The overuse of plastic bags and plastic products is no longer just a matter for a few individuals. And if we continue to consider it normal, tomorrow, the price we pay will be the environment, public health, and the future of generations to come.

Previously, household waste mainly consisted of leaves, leftover food, and easily biodegradable items. However, with the modern pace of life, the amount of waste generated has increased and diversified, with plastic waste accounting for a large proportion and being the most difficult to manage. Current waste sorting, collection, transportation, and processing still have many limitations and have not kept pace with the rate of waste generation. A survey by the Provincial Environmental Protection Department shows that the largest source of plastic waste is shopping malls, followed by service businesses, hospitals, schools, markets, and residential areas. Notably, plastic waste from the healthcare sector accounts for 13.29%, reflecting the widespread use of plastic due to its convenience, especially in serving patients and their families.

From markets and supermarkets to hospitals and everyday activities, plastic is piling up into a giant "mountain of waste." According to statistics, Vietnam releases 1.8 million tons of plastic into the environment each year, of which 0.28-0.73 million tons end up in the sea, accounting for about 6% of global plastic waste. However, only 27% of this is recycled or reused; the majority is either buried or incinerated. Meanwhile, plastic is present in every sector: agriculture with nylon coverings, fruit wrapping, and pesticide packaging; construction with plastic furniture, doors, and covering fabrics; and fishing with nets, buoys, and styrofoam containers. Even more worrying, plastic waste is generated even during the recycling process, when unusable products are discarded.

Mr. Trinh Thach Lam, Head of the Plant Protection Department (Provincial Department of Crop Production and Plant Protection), said: “In agricultural production, nylon is used extensively, from fencing fields to protect against rats to fertilizer packaging and plastic bottles for pesticides. These types of packaging are classified as hazardous waste, but for many years, sorting and processing have been difficult due to a lack of infrastructure, high costs, and limited public awareness.”

According to scientists, the plastic manufacturing process uses many types of industrial chemical additives that disrupt the endocrine system, directly impacting human and animal health. For example, plastic bags, when discarded and mixed into the soil, can remain for hundreds of years, altering soil structure, preventing water and nutrient retention, hindering oxygen absorption, and thus directly affecting plant growth. The soil and water environment are also poisoned as plastic bags decompose, producing microplastics and heavy metals that silently enter the human body through food and water sources.

Despite the dangers, Vietnam still primarily disposes of plastic waste through landfilling and incineration, accounting for up to 90%, while only 10% is recycled. Recycling activities are fragmented, small-scale, concentrated in traditional craft villages, lacking management and technology, and in many places even causing secondary pollution. Most recycling facilities use old machinery and outdated technology, insufficient to handle the enormous volume of plastic waste generated daily.

From convenient plastic bags to disposable plastic containers, plastic waste is eroding ecosystems, poisoning the environment, and harming human health. Without fundamental and timely solutions, the "plastic specter" will continue to weigh heavily on the sustainable development of future generations.