Vietnam, Japan’s Cooperation for Construction Waste Management and Recycling in Quang Ninh Province

Participants in the conference.

The workshop is among various events under the SATREPS project entitled “Establish an effective construction waste management system to control environmental pollution and enhance the ability to manufacture new materials from recycled construction waste in Vietnam” as well as an activity commemorating the 50^th anniversary of Japan-Vietnam diplomatic relations in 2023.

Around 70 people attended the Workshop, including Mr. Nguyen Thanh Nam, Deputy Director General, Administration of Technical Infrastructure (AIT), Ministry of Construction (MOC), representatives from relevant agencies of neighboring provinces and enterprises.

In the opening speech, Mr. Yoshitomo Kubo, Senior Representative of JICA Vietnam, shared: “JICA has attached high priority to projects on environment protection. Solid waste treatment has been always JICA’s focus on project implementation, assignment of technical and policy experts”.　

Opening speech by Mr. Nguyen Manh Tuan, Director General of Department of Construction, Quang Ninh province

Mr. Nguyen Manh Tuan, Director General of Department of Construction (DOC), Quang Ninh Provincial People’s Committee, then in his welcome speech, said: “Quang Ninh set a long-term development goal with sustainability. Although the collection, classification, recycling, and reuse of construction demolition waste (CDW) is recognized as important, the application in localities is still limited. Learning from SATREPS and the Japanese experience is useful for the sustainable development of Quang Ninh Province”.

At the seminar, Assoc. Prof. Nguyen Hoang Giang, Vice-Rector of Hanoi University of Civil Engineering (HUCE), Director of the SATREPS Project and experts of HUCE presented survey results and proposed solutions for sustainable management of construction solid waste in Quang Ninh province, mechanisms and policies, experimental research results and application of absorbent recycled materials for pavement construction.

Subsequently, “Practice of construction solid waste management and recycling in Saitama prefecture in Japan” was shared by Prof. Ken Kawamoto from Graduate School of Science and Engineering, Saitama University, cum Project Manager of the SATREPS Project. Saitama prefecture is adjacent to Tokyo and supports Tokyo’s construction waste recycling as well as realizes “Local Production for Local Consumption” of construction waste in Saitama prefecture.

Opening speech by Prof. Takaomi Shigehara, Saitama University

Opening speech by Mr. Yoshitomo Kubo, Senior Representative, JICA Vietnam Office

Prof. Takaomi Shigehara, Dean of Faculty of Engineering, Saitama University, said: “I come to understand and be convinced that Quang Ninh province would be our reliable partner in implementing this program as it has been showing excellent business performance with top ranking of PCI (Provincial Competitiveness Index) in 5 consecutive years and also has experiences in successfully implementing several JICA’s ODA projects in environment improvement.”

Mr. Pham Quang Vinh, Department of Natural Resources and Environment (DONRE), Quang Ninh Provincial People’ s Committee acknowledged that Quang Ninh province had cooperated with Japanese agencies and enterprises in environment protection and waste treatment over the past time. The support of JICA for Green Growth Promotion in Ha Long Bay area is the one.

In Vietnam, the amount of solid waste has been sharply increasing and become one of the serious social issues due to population growth, changes in lifestyles associated with economic development, consumption expansion, urbanization, and industrialization etc… In order to cope with these issues, local governments, especially those in urban cities, are required to establish solid waste master plan.

Experiences in Japan presented by Prof. Kawamoto Ken, Saitama University

To promote the application of recycled CDW, the project is expected to establish guidelines necessary for the environmentally-sound CDW management and quality standards for recycled materials produced from CDW. These guidelines and standards have been accepted by MOC and highly expected to be enacted in early 2023.

JICA will continue to cooperate with the Vietnamese Government in waste management, supporting Vietnam to become a high-income country by 2045 and to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050.