Chủ Nhật, 13/07/2025, 10:52 (GMT+7)
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Viet Nam launches project to reduce persistent organic pollutants

ABO/NDO- The Ministry of Agriculture and Environment (MAE) and the UNDP held a workshop on July 12 to launch a project on reducing the release and impact of persistent organic pollutants (POPs) and mercury through product lifecycle management and ecolabels.

Funded by the Global Environment Facility, the project is aimed at supporting Viet Nam in enhancing its capacity to control toxic chemicals, promoting cleaner production, and developing sustainable consumption.
Currently, many POPs are not produced domestically but they are still imported and used in industries such as paints, plastics, metal plating, insulation materials, and garments.

In the meantime, regulations and mechanisms to encourage conversion to POP-free production have not met the set requirements.

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Household waste is being sorted into streetside rubbish bins. (Photo: Trung Tuyen).

Mercury is also widely used in medical devices and fluorescent lamps, while the system to collect, sort and treat mercury-containing products remains limited, posing environmental and health risks.

Viet Nam has ratified two important international conventions to control chemical pollution, namely the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants and the Minamata Convention on Mercury.

Speaking at the workshop, MAE Deputy Minister Le Cong Thanh emphasised that the project will help enhance environmental management and reduce the release of POPs and mercury by supporting the development and refinement of regulations and technical guidelines on product lifecycle management.

The project will also promote green financial solutions, ecolabels, green procurement, and support enterprises in changing technology and designing environmentally friendly products.

The project will be implemented over the next four years, with a budget of 4.6 million USD from the GEF and 28.5 million USD in domestic counterpart funding.

(Source: NDO)

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