Community Based Plastic Waste Management In Sam Son Thanh Hoa Province

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VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF FORESTRY

FOREST RESOURCES & ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT FACULTY

STUDENT THESIS

COMMUNITY-BASED PLASTIC WASTE MANAGEMENT

IN SAM SON, THANH HOA PROVINCE

Major: Advanced Cirriculum in Natural Resources Management

Code: D850101

Faculty: Forest Resources & Environmental Management

Student: Bui Thi Huong Student ID: 1553090580

Class: K60 Natural Resources Management Course: 2015 – 2019

Advanced Education Program

Developed in Collaboration with Colorado State University, USA

Supervisor: Assoc. Prof. Dr. Tran Thi Thu Ha

Hanoi, 2019

TABLE OF CONTENTS

ACKNOWLEDEMENTS ...................................................................................... i

ABTRACT ............................................................................................................ii

1. INTRODUCTION ....................................................................................... 1

2. LITERATURE REVIEW................................................................................ 3

2.1. Rationale for community-based plastic waste management .......................... 3

2.2. Current situation of community-based plastic waste management in

Vietnam ................................................................................................................. 7

3. GOALS AND OBJECTIVES ........................................................................ 9

3.1. Goals ............................................................................................................... 9

3.2. Objectives ....................................................................................................... 9

4. SITE DESCRIPTION ................................................................................... 10

5. METHODOLOGIES .................................................................................... 15

5.1. Collecting data ............................................................................................. 15

5.1.1. Secondary data collection ......................................................................... 15

5.1.2. Primary data collection ............................................................................. 15

5.2. Data analysis ................................................................................................ 17

5.2.1. Descriptive statistic ................................................................................... 17

6. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION ..................................................................... 18

6.1. The pollution situation and plastic waste management in Sam Son............ 18

6.2. The change in awareness and behavior of participants regarding to plastic

waste pollution in Sam Son after the project ...................................................... 23

6.2.1. The description of the respondents ........................................................... 23

6.2.2. Local authorities ........................................................................................ 24

6.2.3. Local people .............................................................................................. 25

6.2.4. Students and pupils ................................................................................... 32

6.3. Proposing a model of community-based plastic waste management in Sam

Son....................................................................................................................... 36

6.4. Recommendations to improve the model operation .................................... 42

7. CONCLUSION............................................................................................... 46

REFERENCES.................................................................................................... 48

LIST OF FIGURES

Figure 3.1. Geographic location of Sam Son ...................................................... 10

Figure 6.1. Trung Son landfill ............................................................................. 21

Figure 6.2. Activities of the program “Let's clean the sea in 2019” in Sam Son 25

Figure 6.3. The change in knowledge about plastic waste after project ............. 26

Figure 6.4. The using of plastic products compared to before joining the project

............................................................................................................................. 27

Figure 6.5. Plastic waste treatment of households .............................................. 29

Figure 6.6. Willingness to participate in community-based plastic waste

management model of respondents ..................................................................... 32

Figure 6.7. The using of plastic products compared to before joining the project

............................................................................................................................. 34

Figure 6.8. Management model diagram ............................................................ 38

LIST OF TABLES

Table 5.1. SWOT analysis .................................................................................. 18

Table 6.1. Composition of waste in Sam Son ..................................................... 19

Table 6.2. Description of respondents ................................................................ 24

Table 6.3. The number of plastic bags and bottles that respondents have been

using every single week ...................................................................................... 28

Table 6.4. The frequency of reflection with environmental issues to the local

authorities ............................................................................................................ 31

Table 6.6. The number of plastic bags and bottles that respondents have been

using every single week ...................................................................................... 35

Table 6.7. SWOT analysis of the model ............................................................. 40

i

ACKNOWLEDEMENTS

I would like to express my very great appreciation to Assoc. Prof. Dr Tran Thi

Thu Ha, my research supervisor, for her enthusiastic encouragements and useful

critiques of this research work. Without her thoughtful, patient guidance through every

step of my research, this thesis could not have been realized. Thanks to cooperating

between Vietnam National University of Forestry and Colorado State University, I

have chance to approach a reservoir of international knowledge and experience.

I would like to extend my thanks to U.S. Embassy in Hanoi for valuable

sponsorship about funding and human resources to help me implement the project

“Protecting Sam Son from plastic waste pollution”. This project helps me a lot in

completing my research. I would also like to thank to The Centre for Supporting Green

Development – GreenHub as a great strategic partner in my project. Moreover, I

highly appreciate to Ms. Jen Vuhuong - Founder of Empower Leaders Academy and

Empower You seminar in Bristol, the UK; Ms. Ha Ngan Ha - Expert from The Green

Support and Development Center – GreenHub and Mrs. Tran Mai Anh Phuong -

Coordinator of “Young Southeast Asian Leaders Initiative (YSEALI)” in 2018,

Cultural Affairs Officer, U.S. Embassy in Hanoi for the great support. Without them,

my project would be very difficult to succeed.

I also want to express my gratitude to local authorities and local people in Sam

Son, Thanh Hoa province for supporting me carried out survey questionnaires and

group discussion, followed by me with useful information about Sam Son.

ii

ABTRACT

Plastic waste reduction is one of the biggest challenges that people have to

solve to protect the environment. The fight against plastic waste requires all

stakeholders to participate. And the community is one of the most important factors. It

is necessary to have a community-based plastic waste management model at the local.

Sam Son is one of the most beautiful coastal cities of Vietnam. Every year, it attracts

millions of tourists. However, in recent years, Sam Son influenced seriously by plastic

waste pollution. One of my projects “Protecting Sam Son from plastic waste pollution”

was implemented here with the sponsorship of U.S. Embassy in Hanoi. It has raised

awareness of local people about plastic waste pollution and helped them know how to

classify trash in their house.

This study was conducted to assess the changes of awareness, attitude and

behavior of local people regarding to plastic waste pollution in Sam Son, Thanh Hoa

province after the implementation of the project “Protecting Sam Son, Thanh Hoa

province from plastic waste pollution”, thereby propose solutions to minimize

pollution and build a model of community-based plastic waste management in Sam

Son, Thanh Hoa province. The model of community-based plastic waste management

has been applied in many places but due to different socio-economic conditions in

different localities, these models are also different to suit the local conditions. This

study will also investigate and consider the natural, residential and social conditions of

Sam Son to make recommendations on an appropriate model.