From Waste to New Energy

 

The Hanoi Department of Natural Resources and Environment said 18 districts in the capital city are found to have 304 dumping sites with 65,000 tonnes of untreated solid waste.

 

Among 18 districts checked, only five, namely Soc Son, Dong Anh, Tu Liem, Gia Lam and Thanh Tri have urban environment companies affiliated to the District People's Committee responsible for garbage collection. The rest have to sign environmental sanitation agreements with private companies. Not only that, in these 13 districts, residents are also using ponds, lakes, canals, and lowlands to dump waste, making untreated landfills which pollute the environment and water sources.

 

This reality is caused by the informal landfills in the countryside being near full. Even, some temporary dumpsites are not cleared within the day as required. In addition, localities lack funds to build standard dumpsites.

 

Hanoi is forecast to treat 7,300 tonnes of household waste a day by 2020, or approximately 2.7 million tonnes a year. Suburban districts are projected to handle over 2,600 tonnes a day by that time. Current waste disposal capacity cannot meet demand and investment; thus, investment for advanced waste collecting and recycling technologies is essential.

 

According to the Hanoi solid waste treatment planning till 2030, with a vision towards 2050, the capital city will have 13 solid waste treatment facilities, seven landfill sites for construction waste and sludge, and six solid waste transport hubs. Accordingly, household solid waste is collected, classified, and processed, using advanced domestic and international technologies like recycling, manufacturing organic fertilisers, and incinerating and filling. The total investment to apply this planning is estimated at VND107 trillion. Funding will come from the State Budget, the public, official development assistance (ODA) loans, commercial loans and other forms of investment.

 

To achieve these objectives, the city of Hanoi is placing focus on combining the strengths of all sectors, particularly delineating responsibilities to every entity from governments to enterprises, factories, and households. The city will encourage non-State involvement to attain the highest efficiency and apply special mechanisms to draw investment resources for waste collection and disposal.

 

Waste is also a resource that needs to be treated and invested. With the goal of sustainable development and environmental protection, the industrial waste treatment system project in Nam Son is the first in Vietnam to generate electricity from waste. This facility applies advanced incineration technologies from Japan to recycle waste materials to produce electricity. The facility is designed to generate 1,930 kW of power by treating 75 tonnes of industrial waste daily.

 

The plant aims to improve power generation and environmental protection by using Japanese exhaust treatment and heat recovery technology to power an electricity generator while easing pressures on solid waste landfill sites in the city and thoroughly treating hazardous industrial waste in Hanoi and surrounding areas.

 

The use of energy generated from industrial waste treatment for Nam Son waste treatment complex will offset the power shortage in the city. The waste-to-energy facility is expected for completion at the end of 2014. This project will create a new source of energy and build a healthy and sustainable recycling society in the capital city.