Potential For Recycling Single-Use Plastic Waste - Case Study in Can Tho City, Vietnam

Abstract

Circular economy is an economic ideal that has been concretized by the Vietnamese Government in the Law on Environmental Protection 2020. As a part of this model, plastic waste reuse and recycling are encouraged to extend the product life cycle. This study investigates the composition of recyclable plastic waste within the domestic waste sources in Can Tho city. The wastes were collected at waste gathering places, residential areas, markets, bus stations, and schools in the urban district of Ninh Kieu and suburban district of Cai Rang in Can Tho city. The results show that disposable plastic items are very diverse such as grocery bags, plastic bags, foam boxes, straws, drinking water bottles, etc. Plastic components accounted from 6.82 % in Cai Rang district to 14.89 % in Ninh Kieu district of the total waste. In which, LDPE plastic was the highest with 38.17 %, HDPE plastic and PETE plastic accounted for 20.81% and 4.89 %, respectively. Particularly, PETE is less found than other plastics as it is collected by scrap person at the disposal sources or by sanitation worker at the waste gathering place. PETE and HDPE plastics are completely recyclable, accounting for 25.70 %. In addition, LDPE plastic is also recyclable (38.17%) compared to other components. Thus, the recyclable plastic ratio of PETE, HDPE, and LDPE reaches 63.88 %. Meanwhile, non-recyclable plastics, accounted for 36.12 %, such as PS plastic (14.18 %), PP plastic (9.83 %) and other plastics (12.12 %). From the results, the amount of recyclable plastic discarded into the environment is nearly twice that of non-recyclable plastic. The potential to utilize recyclable plastics will most likely fit the circular economy model, which will both extend the product life cycle while limiting waste generation and minimizing adverse environmental impacts.