Ineffective e-waste recycling practices mean that the country’s growing amount of waste is not being properly handled.
VietnamNet reports that recycling activities in the country “are just preliminary treatment” as Vietnam “still cannot make refined materials for production.”
This is a growing worry as, with the ever-increasing demand for electronics, being both bought and then replaced, the country is facing “an increasingly high volume of electronic waste.”
As well as being an agent of severe damage to the environment, scientists have pointed out that this waste “could also be precious input materials for production” if efficiently recycled.
However Dang Thi Kim Chi, from the Vietnam Association for Conservation of Nature and Environment, said that what passes for recycling in the country is actually just a process of “dissembling, classifying the waste and splitting metals”, which can only be considered as “preliminary treatment”.
Chi also warned of the dangers of improper treatment of e-waste, which could cause heavy metals such as lead “to leak into the environment.”
“The plastic covers of many electronic devices have a high toxicity level, including durable organic compounds which can cause cancer,” she explained.
“The grinding and cutting of plastics will generate microscopic dust particles containing hazardous substances such as PBDDs and PBDEs. If people are not protected with masks, they will inhale the toxic substances. The toxins will go into the blood and to many organs, becoming a potential danger,” she added.
Nguyen Duc Huang, from the Hanoi University of Science and Technology, revealed that “there are 15 industrial workshops in Vietnam which have license to treat e-waste” but they “only classify waste and use some kinds of normal metals with high content such as copper and aluminium.”
When asked why Vietnam can’t recycle e-waste, Huang responded that it was due to “the lack of input materials.”