Improving waste treatment capacity

Over the past years, Quang Ninh has been one of the leading localities in the country in terms of socio-economic development, rapid urbanization, strong tourism growth, and increasingly improved people's lives. However, along with that development, the problem is becoming urgent: the large amount of daily household waste generated, while the treatment system is overloaded and no longer suitable. Without a fundamental and strategic solution, the situation of waste congestion and environmental pollution is likely to become a major barrier to the province's sustainable development goals.

Difficulties in waste treatment

On average, every day in Quang Ninh province, over 1,000 tons of solid waste are generated, most of which are concentrated in urban areas of the province, especially in Ha Long, Cam Pha, Dong Trieu, Uong Bi, Mong Cai. These areas account for 80% of the daily waste generated in the province. However, the collection, transportation and treatment have not been implemented in a synchronous and effective manner, leading to a large amount of waste remaining.

Vu Oai temporary landfill in Thong Nhat commune is overloaded.

The reason for this situation is that a part of the population is not aware of the Law on Environmental Protection, there is still the situation of dumping waste in the wrong place, and the classification of domestic waste at the source has not been implemented. Currently, the whole province has 884 domestic solid waste collection points that were arranged and built before the Law on Environmental Protection 2020 took effect, so they have not met the standards. Most of the current collection points are temporary collection points, have not been invested to meet technical requirements on environmental protection, and there are still unsanitary phenomena.

Although the province currently has 18 organizations and businesses providing services for collecting and transporting waste generated in the area with a total of 63 garbage compactors, garbage transporters and hundreds of handcarts for collection, however, due to the large amount of waste in the population, not concentrated at a certain time of the day, the amount of waste is stagnant.

Landfills and waste treatment plants are currently unevenly distributed. Some landfills are currently full, overloaded and at full capacity but still have to be received and have not been closed, causing environmental pollution and public outrage. The incineration technology of domestic solid waste treatment plants is slowly being improved, resulting in a low amount of waste processed per day.

Environmental sanitation unit collects waste in Van Don special economic zone.

Mr. Tran Van Binh (Ha Lam ward) said: Garbage collection points are still too close to concentrated residential areas, with large amounts of waste, affecting the quality of people's lives, especially in the hot summer, the smell of garbage affects the daily life and health of people. Meanwhile, the current waste treatment areas have not been invested in synchronously and modernly, are often overloaded, and pose a high risk of causing environmental pollution in the area.

According to the plan, Quang Ninh province has 17 domestic solid waste treatment areas, but due to many related factors, so far only 9 treatment areas have been invested and operated; 1 area has been invested and partially operated; 2 areas are being invested, not yet in operation and 5 areas have not yet invested. In particular, many treatment areas have been approved by competent authorities, selected investors, and implemented construction for a long time but have not yet been completed. It can be mentioned that the Binh Khe Commune Waste Treatment Plant has been delayed in implementing phase 2 for nearly 4 years, currently only operating phase 1 with 1 incinerator with a capacity of 100 tons/day, currently there are over 13,000 tons of untreated waste in the plant's collection area; The solid waste treatment center project in Vu Oai and Hoa Binh communes of Ha Long City, previously invested by Indevco Group Joint Stock Company, had a designed capacity of 900 tons of waste/day, but is now more than 60 months behind schedule.

Collecting household waste in Ha Long ward.

Due to the above shortcomings, currently landfills and waste treatment areas can only receive about 1,000 tons of waste per day. However, by 2026, when some landfills are overloaded, small-scale treatment facilities expire, and in the case of waste treatment plants under construction or new investments that are not completed in 2025 to put into operation, there will be about 440-460 tons of domestic solid waste generated without a place to be treated.

Mr. Nguyen Minh Son, Director of the Department of Agriculture and Environment, said: In case of stopping the operation of Cong To landfill in Tien Yen commune, Vu Oai landfill in Thong Nhat commune and stopping Cau Cao waste treatment facility in Van Don special economic zone, Khe Giang waste treatment plant will only handle urgent situations by using backup furnaces to burn waste for wards in the old Cam Pha city. Other waste sources from other localities will almost not be able to handle in time.

Need modern processing technology

There have been several solutions to handle the amount of waste that is accumulated and generated daily, proposed by all levels and sectors, such as: Adding landfill cells at Vu Oai Waste Treatment Area, Thong Nhat Commune to receive more waste from January 1, 2026 in the wards in the eastern area of ​​Ha Long City before, Cam Pha area and neighboring areas; effectively utilizing waste treatment areas in cement factories to co-process domestic solid waste; existing waste treatment plants must change old production lines and technologies with new technologies, receiving more waste for treatment...

The provincial delegation visited the high-tech solid waste treatment plant in Song Lieu ward, Bac Ninh province, September 10, 2025.

Khe Giang Waste Treatment Plant in Yen Tu Ward, invested by Viet Long Investment and Construction Joint Stock Company since 2015, has not been able to meet the actual demand in a timely manner. In this situation, on August 13, 2025, the Company sent a document to the Provincial People's Committee and relevant departments and branches of the province to deploy the installation of a conventional waste treatment line with a capacity of 100 tons/day using "gasification to generate electricity" technology to increase waste treatment capacity. If approved, it is expected that this line will be completed and put into waste treatment by the end of 2026.

In order to gradually form specialized waste treatment areas in the province with synchronous investment in zero-emission treatment technologies, renewable energy, and recycling, the Provincial People's Council issued Resolution No. 262/NQ-HDND (February 26, 2025) to attract capable and experienced investors to invest in waste treatment areas with modern treatment technology, minimizing environmental impacts, associated with the reuse of waste as fuel for production, recycled products, reuse, and energy recovery.

To specify this Resolution, on October 7, 2025, the Provincial People's Committee issued Decision No. 3745/QD-UBND approving the adjustment of the investment policy, and at the same time approving the investor of the Solid Waste Treatment Center project in Thong Nhat commune, in which the goal of treating waste by burning to generate electricity (waste electricity) with a treatment capacity of 1,300 tons/day on the land reserved for factory development according to the adjustment of the Detailed Planning approved by the People's Committee of Ha Long City in Decision No. 1060/QD-UBND dated March 4, 2022, with an area of ​​about 10 hectares; power generation capacity of about 15MW. When the factory comes into operation, in addition to the volume of solid waste generated daily in the area of ​​Ha Long City and Cam Pha City before (about 500 tons/day), the factory also has a capacity of 800 tons/day to treat solid waste collected in Thong Nhat commune. According to calculations, it will take about 4 years to process all the waste remaining in Thong Nhat commune.

Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee Nguyen Van Cong (third from right) learns about the industrial waste treatment line at Lam Thach Cement Factory (September 2025). Photo: Viet Hoa

Attracting investors to use modern technology to treat waste in the province is necessary. However, the province also needs to carefully study many different waste treatment technologies to compare and evaluate the superiority of each technology, thereby selecting and attracting appropriate investment, minimizing the risk of environmental pollution from ash and emissions after waste treatment.

It is known that the waste-to-energy technology is about to be deployed by investors in Thong Nhat commune. This is a new technology, however, according to many experts, this technology has not been evaluated optimally because it emits gas and generates bottom ash and fly ash. The relevant departments and branches of the province need to research and advise the Provincial People's Committee to select a number of new technologies to deploy investment in the area, to completely handle the large amount of waste that is currently accumulated in some landfills.

Currently, the technology of waste treatment by thermal decomposition is being researched and applied by a number of provinces and cities across the country, in which the stability and effectiveness have been confirmed in Bac Ninh province, and it is in great need of research by the departments and branches of the province. This is a zero-emission technology and the products recovered after waste treatment are synthetic gas, recycled oil and biochar. This process does not generate dioxin, furan, ash or toxic gases into the environment, and does not require the use of chimneys. The recovered gas is recycled to maintain the heat of the furnace, while the recycled oil and biochar can be used as industrial fuel or land improvement in agriculture. Therefore, the impact on the environment is also much lower than other waste treatment technologies today.

Gas products recovered after waste treatment of Asian Green Energy Environment Joint Stock Company in Yen Dung ward, Bac Ninh province.

According to calculations, from 2026, in the province, there will be about 440-460 tons of solid waste generated every day that will not have a place to be treated (about 165,000 tons/year) because the landfills are overloaded, have stopped receiving, and the existing waste plants do not have enough capacity to handle it. In addition, there are nearly 1.6 million tons of waste remaining at the Dong Mo landfill (Mong Duong ward), the temporary landfill in Vu Oai (Thong Nhat commune), the Solid Waste Treatment Center invested by Indevco Group Joint Stock Company in Vu Oai, Hoa Binh, which has not been treated according to regulations.

In a favorable context, the waste-to-energy project in Thong Nhat commune can only be put into operation in 2027, so the province must soon take urgent measures to handle the daily waste generated without the treatment address mentioned above (440-460 tons). If there are no urgent measures and timely treatment, the amount of waste generated and the amount of waste remaining will increase very quickly, potentially causing a great risk of environmental pollution.

According to the opinions of some functional sectors, for the large amount of waste that is currently accumulated in Mong Duong, Vu Oai and some other landfills..., it is necessary to consider the option of selecting a contractor to install treatment furnaces in an urgent direction, with advanced, modern technology, and no emissions for treatment. During that process, relevant departments and sectors regularly conduct assessments and post-audits, considering this as a measure to evaluate the superiority of the technology, before choosing to be the investor of waste treatment areas in the planning area where the province has not yet selected an investor. This work not only promptly handles the amount of waste accumulated at landfills but also promptly handles the amount of waste generated daily, aiming at the criteria of green, clean, and beautiful to improve the quality of life and serve the goal of developing high-quality tourism that the province has pursued.

Manh Truong

Source: https://baoquangninh.vn/nang-cao-nang-luc-xu-ly-rac-thai-3386555.html