"Closing" Hung Dong landfill - There are still worries...
(Baonghean) - After nearly 2 years of "closing" Hung Dong landfill (Vinh City), issues of waste treatment, environmental sanitation... have been slow to be implemented and the consequences of waste still affect the lives and production of people in the area.
Mr. Nguyen Van Duong in hamlet 2 Vinh Xuan - Hung Dong complained: "The landfill has not been completely treated, when the weather changes, the strong stench rises up and is very unpleasant. The heavy rains caused by storms No. 5 and 6 recently caused the stench and wastewater from the landfill to flow into the pond in the hamlet, causing environmental pollution, affecting production and people's lives". Previously, when Hung Dong landfill was still operating, the environmental pollution was quite serious over a large area, affecting many households, agencies, units and businesses. Since December 31, 2011, Hung Dong landfill "closed", the environmental pollution has gradually decreased.
However, currently, in the area around the landfill, there are still 9,078 people of Hung Dong and Nghi Kim communes affected by environmental pollution. Along with that, agricultural production is facing many difficulties due to reduced productivity and quality of crops and especially the consumer psychology is not secure when using products from this land... To gradually support people in the area affected by the landfill, in recent times, relevant levels and sectors have had many solutions and methods to limit environmental pollution, helping people stabilize their lives and production. Before 2008, Vinh City annually allocated tens of billions of VND from the budget to treat waste, spray insecticides, improve the environment, and buy health insurance for people. From 2009 to present, Vinh City has... Vinh has additional targeted funding from the Central Government of 30 billion VND/year and has allocated 10 billion VND/year for support, environmental improvement, and waste treatment at Hung Dong landfill area.
Mr. Dinh Nho Tai - Officer of the Finance and Planning Department of Vinh City People's Committee said: "Within a radius of 1,000m2 at Hung Dong landfill, the authorities spray insecticide with an annual budget of about 4 billion VND, and buy health insurance for all people in the affected area. In 2013, the authorities are re-monitoring the environment and after having the results, they will deploy timely support to the people."
Despite great efforts in improving the environment and supporting local people, environmental pollution in the Hung Dong landfill area is still occurring and the reason is that waste treatment is slow. To treat waste in Hung Dong, in 2003, SERAPHIN Green Environment Technology Joint Stock Company built Dong Vinh Waste Treatment Plant and completed the project in 2004, but it was not until 2006 that it came into operation with a waste treatment capacity of 200 tons/day. The production process is carried out: Manual and machine separation of waste, then sorting into recycled plastic and nylon; humus for fertilizer; waste for burning; construction materials... Due to outdated production technology, the products have not met market requirements. Moreover, the marketing of the enterprise is still limited, consumer habits have not adapted to these products, so there is a large inventory. Especially organic humus as fertilizer material.
Mr. To Phi Long - Director of Dong Vinh Waste Treatment Plant said: "Currently, there is an inventory of more than 20,000 tons of organic humus, and in the coming time, the waste treatment progress will be accelerated, so the inventory volume will be even larger. If the output cannot be resolved and the warehouse cannot be cleared, the waste treatment progress will be affected. The enterprise has asked the city's policy to allow the use of humus products for filling and restoring ponds and lakes that have been exploited for brick making."
Waste treatment line at Dong Vinh Waste Treatment Plant.
To support the waste treatment at Hung Dong landfill, Vinh City has also supported 10 billion VND each year and always adjusted the waste treatment price in an upward direction, from 191 thousand VND/m3 of waste (in 2010) to 320 thousand VND/m3 of waste (in 2013). However, recently, Dong Vinh Waste Treatment Plant has just completed the treatment of waste at landfill area No. 1 and No. 3. At landfill No. 2, there are currently about 48,000 tons of waste remaining, which are being treated, and are expected to be completed by the end of 2013.
According to Vinh City's request, by the end of 2015, the waste treatment at Hung Dong landfill will be completed and the site will be restored with a clean land area of nearly 10 hectares. However, due to difficulties in clearing inventory, the progress of waste treatment at the landfill will certainly be affected. Therefore, this is the stage to speed up the waste treatment progress, but Dong Vinh Waste Treatment Plant has to cut down on labor and operating capacity, currently only reaching a waste treatment capacity of 130 tons/day.
The slow progress of waste treatment not only affects the business operations and the goal of completing the landfill treatment of Vinh City, but also negatively impacts the environment and the lives of local people. Therefore, the problems at Hung Dong landfill need to be promptly addressed and resolved.
Vinh Hoang