Increasing daily waste in Hanoi during Covid 19 lockdown

According to the Department of Environment in Hanoi, every day, households in Hanoi are releasing 4,000 to 5,000 tonnes of waste. The majority of this amount will be buried or even released to the ocean.

More seriously, during the lockdown, there is a sharp increase in the amount of difficult-to-recyclable items like plastic bags, foam box, plastic wraps, etc. The main reason for this is that as people have to stay at home more, people spend more effort on cooking and shopping online, hence more packaging is wasted. According to a newspaper, street cleaners have to double their capacity to ensure the capital of Vietnam stay clean.

Another source of increasing waste is the amount of waste from quarantine areas. As required by the governments, F0s and F1s have to stay in quarantine hospitals and dormitories of the government, receiving daily meals and other essential items, most of which are single-used. Imagine, 3 meals a day, each meal contains a foam box and a plastic cup, times thousands of people in quarantine camps. What a scary number!

Stay safe Hanoi!