According to Dr Ha Thuc Chi Nhan, degradable plastic bags have appeared on the market. However, the bags can be decomposed into fragments, while they will not absolutely disappear from the market after they are thrown into the environment.
Meanwhile, in order to avoid the harm influences to the environment, the bags need to be biodegradable, i.e. they can be fully decomposed and become the “easy prey” for microorganism to turn them into water and CO2.
Some kinds of import nylon bags can meet the requirements, but they are too expensive. Therefore, Vietnam is determined to create environment friendly bags itself.
Dr Ho Son Lam from the HCM City Institute of Materials Science said that biodegradable plastics have not been available in Vietnam. Meanwhile, production households are not capable to treat the air environment during their production process. Therefore, it would be a heavy burden on the society, if Vietnam cannot find the solutions for developing environment friendly plastics.
Dr Nhan said that in 2009, a research team of the HCM City University for Natural Sciences, in cooperation with a plastics company in Vietnam once carried out a project on making biodegradable plastic products by mixing normal plastics with starch, with the proportion of 30 and 60 percent.
This is a workable solution which allows creating the packaging materials which are friendly to the environment, and to decrease the content of plastics in the products (PE, PP...), use more fillers derived from plants in combination with biodegradable polymers. The solution only requires simple production process which really fits the country’s conditions.
On October 19, the HCM City People’s Committee assigned the city’s Department for Natural Resources and the Environment to join forces with relevant departments and research units to draw up an action plan to minimize the use of plastic bags in the city. The city’s authorities have also encouraged enterprises and institutions to make research and develop the materials friendly to the environment which can fully replace the current plastic bags.
Especially, the local authorities have requested the Department for Natural Resources and the Environment to compile the draft legal document stipulating the common forms and materials for environment friendly bags, and submit to the city’s localities prior to December 31, 2011.
Hoang Tung Duong, Deputy General Director of the Environment General Department under the Ministry of Natural Resources and the Environment, has emphasized that it is necessary to carry out a research project at the national level on using plastic bags in daily life, which serves as the basis for relevant ministries to build up a scenario on the solutions to control pollution caused by persistent nylon bags.
According to the general department, every Vietnamese person uses 35 kilos of products made of plastic every year on average. At present, plastics bags are made of plastic beads with simple equipment and technologies. The recycling of the products is being carried out by small sized production households, but the process can cause big environmental problems.
In 2008, Vafaco carried out a research program on making degradable bags. After that, a factory with the capacity of 130 tons a month has been established which makes degradable bags from HDPE plastics and the additives imported from the UK.
However, according to Nguyen Phuoc Dong, Director of Vafaco, the bags have been used only within Co-op mart chain in HCM City. Dong has revealed that the company is cooperating with the scientists from the HCM City University of Natural Sciences to make an additive which can be decomposed in water.
Source: Lao dong
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