Marine Debris & Plastic Pollution

In Vietnam, economic development, together with urbanization and lifestyle behavior change, have led to a plastic pollution crisis. In the last two decades, this country witnessed a surging increase in plastic use, which grew from 3.8 kg/capita in 1990 to 41 kg/capita in 2015 (MONRE, 2020), and then to 81 kg/capita in 2019 (IUCN-EA-QUANTIS, 2020). Approximately 72% of used plastic becomes waste (equivalent to 58 kg of waste/capita/year). According to the survey result of GreenHub (2021) in World Bank’s project in 10 coastal cities and provinces across Vietnam, 93,6% of waste leaking into the environment is plastic.

Confronting this national crisis, the Vietnam Government has determined to reverse the problem of plastic pollution in general and marine plastic litter in particular. Those determinations are most clearly expressed in the promulgation of the National Action Plan for Management of Marine Plastic Litter by 2030 and the principles, the legal frameworks in the Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) mechanism for businesses in Vietnam. Contributing to plastic pollution and marine debris reduction, GreenHub implements campaigns for raising public awareness and strengthening local people’s capacities in plastic waste management, concomitant with researching, evaluating and quantifying marine waste, and plastic pollution, marine debris monitoring program and coastal clean-up campaigns.