Ho Chi Minh City battles plastic waste in a growing global crisis

Some facts that are unavoidable relate to the amount of plastic waste floating in our oceans and rivers. Every country is responsible, but there is a strange conundrum in the modern world with plastics and the prosperity of an economy.

According to the Ocean Conservancy, approximately eight million metric tons of plastic enters the ocean each year.

Plastic waste: From convenience to pressing matter

For almost 100 years, plastic has been the go-to for convenience and saving money. From manufacturing to medical services and fast food, plastic is the easy and cheap option for transport and maintaining hygiene. But it comes at a cost.

My grandfather was born in the 1920s. After World War II, he began work in a factory as a Bag Man in Australia. In those times, potatoes were transported in reusable hessian bags.

A Bag Man was the person who made sure the bags were solid and usable. The worst thing that could happen was a hessian bag breaking during transportation, causing a full load to be lost off the back of a truck. These days, potatoes, like all other foods, are packed and transported in single-use plastic.

With the massive improvements in the Vietnamese economy over the past 20 years, the country is now in a tough situation with the overuse of plastics wrecking the environment.

While the impact on our waterways and animals is by far the biggest and worst effect, my personal frustration comes from the prolific burning of plastics by some local homeowners, especially in Ho Chi Minh City.

Burning plastic releases a variety of harmful chemicals into the environment, including dioxins and furans, which are highly toxic and can cause serious health issues.

As we cross local bridges around the city, that awful sight of unimaginable amounts of plastic bottles, boxes, and waste float in our streams and rivers. This, ultimately, ends up as congested waste in our oceans. It is the same material that kills many ocean creatures.

More so, microplastics have become one of the more recent concerns. As plastic fragments in the ocean, small animals such as shrimp ingest these chemicals. This sets off a chain reaction that leads all the way back to human consumption. Studies have shown that microplastics are present in 114 aquatic species, and over half of these end up on our plates. Studies have also shown that humans consuming fish and other seafood are now consuming unsafe levels of plastics.

Plastic waste must be stopped

But here in Ho Chi Minh City, there seems to be little regard for the actual dangers. Thankfully, the government is doing all it can to remove this waste from our waterways. But consumers still selfishly purchase plastic-laden items and dispose of single-use plastics with zero regard for the environment.

This has to stop.

Reducing waste is the responsibility of every person in society.

Stop buying coffee and other drinks in single-use cups. Ask for reusable cups in a café or carry your own takeaway cup. They are now a popular item in many shops and online.

Save bags and reuse them when you visit the supermarket.

Choose products packaged in glass and other non-plastic packaging.

Refuse items like plastic spoons and straws when you buy street food and drinks.

Just remember that one soda bottle takes 450 years to fully break down in the environment. This means that bottle of cola you drank in 2005 is still floating somewhere in the ocean, causing issues with sea animals and the environment.

You can say what you like about an expat trying to tell local Vietnamese how to live, but this is bigger than a community issue. It is a global issue that needs immediate action.

Change today and speak up when you see the wrong thing happening in your community. Ho Chi Minh City will love you for it because at the moment it is in the worst environmental condition that I have ever seen.

The future is up to every one of us.