Propose measures of plastic bag using reduction in Hochiminh City aiming at a sustainable
consumption society
In Vietnam, using plastic bags has become an indispensable habit in daily life of everybody, but together with it, risk of environmental pollution is appearing more and more clearly. If housewives are advised to use baskets to go to market instead of using plastic bags to bring home goods and food; or salespeople in market use banana leaves, lotus leaves to wrap food as our ancestors had done for generation to generation, it's sure that we will reduce hundreds of or thousands of tones of toxic plasticwaste discharged into environment. Using plastic bags rashly and unconsciously has become more and more serious. However, there has been no specific research on this problem. In Vietnam, waste management policy mainly focuses on treating waste not reducing it. Therefore, it's necessary to change the orientation of waste management policy, focus on preventing and reducing waste generated at source, use it in production process, and consume it before bringing it back nature (3R policy). Among other things weneed to do is establishing consumption model suitable for natural and socio-economic conditions of Vietnam in the context in which Vietnam has joined world economy and which is suitable for sustainable development requirements.
In recent years, waste and pollution in big cities such as Hanoi, Hochiminh, Haiphong, ¡¦have been urgent matters, especially ever-increasing waste and plastic bag pollution together with social consumption development based on economic growth. All kinds of waste, including destroyable and undestroyable waste, are land filled in landfills. Moreover, waste collection capacity in Hochiminh city hasn't reach 100% yet and an amount of uncollected waste in which plastic bags are in the majority are also factors having parts in causing environmental pollution. So many plastic bags which aren't reused and collected choke drains, flows, and flood urban areas leading to arise fly and mosquito, infect disease, destroy landscape and urban ecosystem. When mixing into soil, plastic waste makes soil "asphyxiated", blocks plant growth leading to erosion. The concerned thing in our country is that most of plastic waste and other undegradable plastic are now mainly treated by landfilling. The rest scattered everywhere both loses landscape and causes environmental pollution. More harmful, in some places, plastic waste is treated by burning leading to discharge so many kinds of toxic gas into the air.
Therefore, research on plastic bag using reduction method in Hochiminh city is necessary. The research'spurpose is to protect environment and initiate development of materials department and degradable bags.
Initial establishing sustainable consumption model suitable for HCMC's socio-economic conditions in the context of joining world economy. By research, propose possible solutions for plastic bag using reduction in studied area.
404-170, KECO, General Environmental Research Complex, Gyeongseo-Dong, Seo-Gu, Incheon, Republic of Korea Tel : 82-32-590-3172 Fax :82-32-590-3129 E-mail : peace@keco.or.kr
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Pilot project 
Tel : 82-32-590-3172 Fax :82-32-590-3129 