Estimation of Plastic Waste Leakage to Environment in Ha Tinh Province, Vietnam

In recent years, the high demand for plastic products in Vietnam has led to an increase in plastic waste leakage into the environment, causing negative impacts on the environment and the ecosystems. In this study, the plastic leakage to the environment from the domestic solid waste in 13 districts of Ha Tinh province was estimated by a Waste Flow Model from 2018-2021 and forecasting to the 2025-2030 period. Results showed that the total plastic waste generated in Ha Tinh province increased from 20,983 tons/year to 23,483 tons/year during the 2018-2021 period. However, the plastic waste released into the environment and leakage into the aquatic environment decreased from 3,022 tons/year to 2,001 tons/year and from 490 tons/year to 361 tons/year in the same period, respectively. Forecasting for the 2025-2030 period, the high collection rate of domestic waste scenario (95%) resulted in 14,664 tons and 1,496 tons, respectively, of total plastic waste released into the environment and aquatic environment. With the low collection rate of domestic solid waste scenario (90%), the total plastic waste leakage into the environment and aquatic environment were 19,068 tons and 1,788 tons, respectively. This result showed that increasing collection and recycling rates of plastic waste may reduce plastic leakage to the environment. It is necessary to monitor and evaluate the impact of plastic waste leakage on the environment and the ecosystems.