Phu Quoc faces great pressure on garbage

As an island that welcomes about 3 million visitors each year, Phu Quoc faces great pressure from waste, especially plastic waste.

Phu Quoc City generates about 190 tons of solid waste every day, 89% of which is collected and treated by two methods: landfill and incineration at 6 centralized landfills. Research results in the period 2020-2023 of the Ocean Plastic Waste Reduction project between the Department of Seas and Islands ( Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment ) and the World Wildlife Fund Vietnam (WWF Vietnam) assessed that waste is the most urgent issue among many risks of environmental pollution on this island that welcomes about 3 million visitors each year.

The report, conducted by the Institute of Marine and Island Research, said that with a population of more than 146,000 people, households in Phu Quoc generate an average of 13 tons of garbage per day. With about 3 million visitors per year, the amount of waste generated from tourism activities is determined to be larger than the local source.

Coastal waste in Phu Quoc. Photo: WWF Vietnam

Currently, Phu Quoc has about 9,400 standard rooms above two stars and more than 14,000 below two stars with the amount of waste generated being more than 39 tons and more than 24 tons per day respectively in case of reaching 100% room occupancy.

However, according to statistics on Phu Quoc tourism in the last 3 years, the occupancy rate of high-end hotels is usually 75% and that of small-scale hotels and accommodation facilities is 80%. Thus, the total amount of waste generated per day from hotel operations is about 50 tons per day.

The report shows that in waste at hotels with two stars or less, the total percentage of plastic waste is very high (17.9%). "This is a rate equivalent to the survey level in major cities in Vietnam and higher than the national average rate."

In addition, restaurants in Phu Quoc also generate about 4 tons of waste per day. Of which, plastic waste accounts for more than 16%, higher than Con Dao and Cu Lao Cham. The rate of using nylon bags in restaurants is also up to 63%, reflecting the use of nylon bags to contain garbage and food and throw them away immediately after use.

Trash collection activities at coral reefs in Phu Quoc. Photo: WWF Vietnam

The amount of waste generated is large, while waste treatment plants have not met the requirements, causing Ong Lang and Dong Cay Sao landfills to be overloaded, causing the amount of plastic waste released into the environment in Phu Quoc to be 1,036 tons annually, equivalent to about 2.83 tons/day.

Recognizing the importance of the environment and ecology for economic development, Phu Quoc is gradually finding solutions to the city's waste problem. In 2022, the island will pilot household-scale incinerators. In 2019, about 18,000 square meters of Ong Tri canal were dredged with 100 tons of waste and will continue to be deployed annually to ensure the beauty of Duong Dong urban area. Agencies, departments and many businesses here do not use disposable water bottles, arrange shared water tanks and paper cups in agencies and meetings.

Volunteers cleaning up trash in Phu Quoc. Photo: LH

Many other environmental protection activities are being implemented such as monthly cleaning programs of government agencies; supporting competitiveness with sustainable development; raising awareness and practices of green tourism; investing in human resources; preserving and enhancing natural and cultural resources.

"However, reality shows that the use of plastic products, including disposable plastic products such as nylon bags and foam packaging, is still very common, in both civil activities and tourism services," the report stated, adding that communication activities have not had enough impact to change the behavior of relevant community groups and have not had much impact on reducing plastic waste or using more environmentally friendly alternative products.

At the same time, the research results also showed that the percentage of nylon bags in Phu Quoc is high, and there are still many pressing problems, especially in the collection and treatment of solid waste, leading to high risks of environmental pollution and negative impacts on economic and social development.

WWF estimates that the tourism industry in the Asia-Pacific region loses $622 million annually due to beach clean-up costs. Despite the large sums of money spent, these efforts have not been very effective, with many famous beaches having to close due to trash, such as Maya Beach in Thailand or Boracay Island in the Philippines.

The World Wildlife Fund (WWF Vietnam) recommends that Phu Quoc needs to invest in more standard waste treatment areas, as well as strictly control waste transfer points, build and upgrade qualified waste collection areas to limit waste loss into the environment.

At the same time, Phu Quoc needs to increase specialized vehicles, collection workers, and invest in more trash bins to ensure that all people have access to collection services, especially in remote areas, along rivers and the sea.

Phu Quoc also needs to promote businesses at markets and souvenir shops to replace plastic bags with paper bags, cloth bags or environmentally friendly materials and have specific and practical policies to support these activities.

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