General requirements for solid waste and wastewater management in Vietnam

General requirements for solid waste and wastewater management in Vietnam (Internet image)

Regarding this issue, LawNet would like to answer as follows:

1. General requirements for solid waste management in Vietnam

According to Article 56 of Decree 08/2022/ND-CP, the general requirements for solid waste management are as follows:

The prevention, minimization, classification, collection, transport, reuse, recycling and treatment of solid waste shall comply with the requirements specified in clause 1 Article 72 of the LEP and the following specific regulations:

- Discarded products and solid waste must be managed to minimize the exploitation and use of natural resources and adverse impacts on the environment according to the circular economy criteria specified in Article 138 of Decree 08/2022/ND-CP.

- Waste generated shall be minimized by applying measures to improve the efficiency in production or in using products.

- The use of discarded products and solid waste generated from production, business operation, service provision and consumption must comply with the principle of making full use of value of discarded products and solid waste by adopting measures in the following order of priority:

+ Recycle discarded products;

+ Repair, maintain or upgrade defective and old products to extend their useful life;

+ Make use of parts of discarded products;

+ Recycle solid waste to recover raw materials, fuels and materials in service of manufacturing activities as prescribed by law;

+ Treat solid waste in combination with recovering energy as prescribed by law;

+ Bury solid waste as prescribed by law.

- It is advisable to apply digital transformation, develop and apply platform-based business models to promote the minimization of waste generated, reuse, classification, collection, transport, recycling and treatment of solid waste.

- The collection and transport of solid waste generated from activities of non-tariff zones, export-processing zones and export processing enterprises inland shall comply with regulations of Decree 08/2022/ND-CP on collection and transport of waste outside the non-tariff zones, export processing zones and export processing enterprises.

2. General requirements for wastewater management in Vietnam

General requirements for wastewater management in Vietnam according to Article 57 of Decree 08/2022/ND-CP are as follows:

The prevention, minimization, collection, transport, reuse, recycling and treatment of wastewater shall comply with the requirements specified in clause 2 Article 72 of the LEP and the following specific regulations:

- Wastewater must be managed to minimize the extraction and improve the efficiency in use of water resources and reduce adverse impacts on the environment.

- Make full use of value of wastewater generated from production, business operation, service provision and domestic activities by adopting measures in the following order of priority:

+ Treat and reuse wastewater directly in production, business operation and service provision as prescribed by law;

+ Treat and transfer wastewater to reuse wastewater in production, business operation and other services as prescribed by law;

+ Transfer wastewater to another unit for treatment and reuse as prescribed by law;

+ Treat and discharge wastewater in accordance with environmental technical regulations.

- Works and equipment for environmental emergency prevention and response with respect to wastewater which serves as part of the wastewater treatment system to ensure that untreated wastewater is not discharged into the environment in case the wastewater treatment system is involved in an emergency.

An environmental emergency prevention and response work must be solid, waterproof and resistant to wastewater leakage according to design standards and regulations on construction or product and goods quality standards; have the ability to store or re-treat wastewater in a scale suitable for environmental emergency prevention and response plan of the investment project, dedicated area for production, business operation and service provision or industrial cluster.

It is not allowed to use the same environmental emergency prevention and response work or equipment for wastewater from the work for rain water collection, storage and drainage or work for ire fighting water storage.

Environmental emergency prevention and response equipment for wastewater means equipment which is readily available according to the emergency prevention and response plan for the purposes of prevention, warning and timely response if the wastewater treatment system is involved in an emergency.

The environmental emergency prevention and response equipment for wastewater must conform to design standards and regulations on design or product and goods quality standards.

- The collection and transport of wastewater and liquid waste generated from activities of non-tariff zones, export-processing zones and export processing enterprises inland shall comply with regulations of Decree 08/2022/ND-CP on collection and transport of wastewater and liquid waste outside the non-tariff zones, export processing zones and export processing enterprises.

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