VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI VIETNAM JAPAN UNIVERSITY DAOPHET PHIMDAPHON MUNICIPAL SOLID WASTE MANAGEMENT TOWARD CIRCULAR ECONOMY IN VANG VIENG DISTRICT, VIENTIANE PROVINCE, LAO PDR MASTER'S THESIS VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI VIETNAM JAPAN UNIVERSITY DAOPHET PHIMDAPHON MUNICIPAL SOLID WASTE MANAGEMENT TOWARD CIRCULAR ECONOMY IN VANG VIENG DISTRICT, VIENTIANE PROVINCE, LAO PDR MAJOR: ENVIRONMENTAL ENGINEERING CODE: 8520320.01 RESEARCH SUPERVISORS: Associate Prof. NGUYEN THI HA Dr. NGUYEN THI AN HANG Hanoi, 2022 COMMITMENT I have read and understood the plagiarism violations. I pledge with personal honor that this research result is my own and does not violate the Regulation on prevention of plagiarism in academic and scientific research activities at VNU Vietnam Japan University (Issued together with Decision No 700/QD-ĐHVN dated 30/9/2021 by the Rector of Vietnam Japan University Author of thesis (Signature) PHIMDAPHON DAOPHET ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I, Mr.
Daophet Phimdaphon, a student in the Vietnam Japan University, Master Program in Environmental Engineering, was able to finish the project at time because of the cooperation and advice from the professors throughout the period of writing the graduation thesis. As a result, I would want to use this opportunity to acknowledge and show my gratitude to the faculty members, professors who have imparted knowledge that has been helpful to me throughout our time as students there. I would like to express my gratitude to Associate Prof. NGUYEN THI HA and Dr.
NGUYEN THI AN HANG for giving up valuable teaching time to oversee the graduation project, assist in knowledge transfer, provide advice, and methodically correct the graduation thesis so that my graduation project could be successfully finished. I would like to convey my gratitude to Mr. Chairman and the committee for their suggestions on how to improve my chapter for more completion. I would like to convey my deep delight in the Vietnam Japan University, especially the Master Program in Environmental Engineering for making it possible for me to learn theory, specialized courses, as well as the practical component, allowing us to put the knowledge and skills into practice.
I would like to express my gratitude to all my parents, relatives, and friends for their support and encouragement throughout this research, which led to its completion. You owe me nothing in return for your appreciation, but I do wish you well. I wish you all a long and healthy life. Finally, I would like to wish all of you good health, happiness, prosperity and success in all your work.
TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF TABLES. i LIST OF FIGURES. ii LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS. 1 CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW.
Types of municipal solid waste. The sources of MSW. Impacts of MSW .1 Environmental Impacts of MSW .2 Social Impacts of MSW .3 Economic Impacts of MSW. Reduction and segregation of solid waste at source.
Collection and transportation. Solid waste disposal. Circular economy in MSW management. The value chain of the CE.
Problems and barriers in applying the concept of the CE. The legislative framework supporting waste management and CE. Material flow analysis. Cost-benefit analysis.
SWOT analysis and TOWS matrix. Data collection method. The secondary data. The primary data.
Data collection tool. 36 CHAPTER 3: RESULTS AND DISCUSSION. Current status of MSW management in Vang Vieng. Role of organizations/institutions.
Opportunities and barriers of MSW management toward CE in Vang Vieng 44 3. Applying the concept of CE in local government organizations. Applying the CE concept to MSW management. Suggestions for management of MSW for local government organizations 56 CONCLUSION.
67 LIST OF TABLES Table 1.1 Problems and barriers in applying the concept of the CE .2 Legislative Framework Supporting Waste management and CE in Lao PDR .1 Composition of MSW from different areas in Vang Vieng .2 UDAA's Van Vieng annually budget plan 2016 – 2020 (UDAA's Vanvieng, 2021) .3 Estimated benefits cost from selling recycling waste .5 Solutions for applying CE in specific areas .6 Guidelines MSW management at sources to final disposal. 57 i LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1.1 Variation in MSW composition grouped by country income (Hoornweg & Bhada, 2012).2 Circular economy concept (Wautelet, 2018).3 Value Chain of Circular Economy (Kalmykova et al.4 MFA of MSW in LPB in 2015 (tons/year) (Xaysackda & Sandhya, 2017) 27 Figure 1.1 Waste flow in Vang Vieng.2 Composition of MSW in Vang Vieng district.3 Waste before collected and compactor trucks.4 Vang Vieng landfill under upgrading.5 Organization chart of waste management in Vang Vieng District (Vientiane Provincial Statistics Centre, 2020). 43 ii LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS 3R: Reduce, reuse, and recycle CBA: Cost Benefits Analysis CE: Circular economy concept FAO: the Food and Agriculture Organization GHG: Greenhouse gas LFG: Landfill gases MFA: Material Flow Analysis MoH: the Ministry of Public Health MoIC: the Ministry of Industry and Commerce MoNRE: the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment MPWT: The Ministry of Public Works and Transport MSW: Municipal solid waste PoNRE: The Provincial Natural Resource and Environment Department SWOT: Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats analysis TOWS: Threats, Opportunities, Weaknesses, Strength’s matrix UDAA: the Urban Development and Administrative Authority UNEP: United Nations Environment Programme US EPA: United State Environmental Protection Agency iii INTRODUCTION Globally, due to the rapid population growth, industrialization, and urbanization in urban areas, the natural resources (e., land, water, energy, etc.) are increasingly exploited and utilized to meet the growing production and consumption demands. Consequently, a large amount of municipal solid waste (MSW) is generated annually.
Therefore, the appropriate MSW management is becoming essential to prevent the environmental degradation and enhance the waste valorization (Hoang et al. According to (Senate Commerce Industry Committee, 2020) the human beings will use natural resources 1.5 times more than their quantity that the world can provide in 2030. It means that even if we had two earths, they would not provide sufficiently the natural resources for human beings. In the past, the focuses were placed on the industrial development and economic growth, which reply on one-way consumption, rather than the management and reuse of the solid waste and sewage (Overseas Industrial Consulting Office, 2016).
It is predicted that the global MSW generation rate will increase from 1.2 kg/day/capita in 2012 to 1.42 kg/day/capita in 2025. The annual MSW volume is expected to double, being 2.2 billion tons in 2025 (Hoornweg & Bhada, 2012). Clearly, the linear economy, which is based on the principles of take, make, use and dispose, is causing negative impacts on the global environment. In recent years, the volume of MSW in Lao PDR tends to increase due to the higher MSW generation rate.
The main components of the MSW in Lao PDR are organic solid waste (30%), plastic waste (30%), paper waste (15%), and the solid waste that can sold (25%) (MoNRE-Lao, 2020). While landfilling is the main method for the disposal of MSW in urban areas, open dumping is a prevailing method in the remaining areas. It is worthy to note that most of landfills in Lao PDR currently do not have the landfill leachate monitoring and management systems (Viengkham, 2020). The poor management of MSW in Lao PDR poses the high risks to the environment The concept of circular economy (CE) is becoming popular in the world.
It is defined as a comprehensive waste management system, which is based on the principle of reduce, reuse, and recycle (3Rs) to generate the value added and environmentally friendly products from waste by using technology and design (Sakolnakorn & Leknoi, 1 2021). CE is frequently touted as a solution to the worldwide waste dilemma (Katchwattana, 2018). It focuses on the management of waste resulted from production and consumption by bringing raw materials into the production, reusing, recycling, and maintaining a balance among economic growth, the use of resources, and the environmental protection (Zhu, Geng, & Lai, 2010). In the developed countries, CE is accepted and driven by both governments and businesses.
In such enterprises, CE is adopted by turning their business cycles into the self-sufficient models as much as possible. CE is expected to replace the traditional linear economy, which is based on the taking, make, use and dispose, and thus developing the economy toward the sustainability. In Lao PDR, the concept of CE is not widely popular, especially for local governments. Until now, CE has not received sufficient attention and support for its development.
Specifically, policies and regulations on CE have not been formulated, local administration organizations are lack of knowledge of CE. This situation affects the applying CE into MSW management in Vang Vieng. Vang Vieng is located in Vientiane Province, approximately 150 km north of the Lao PDR National Vientiane Capital. Vang Vieng is one of 11 districts of Vientiane 2 Province which a land cover of 212.5 km wpith a total population of 59,661 persons (cited in Provicial natural resource and environment department, 2020).
Tourism is the main industry of Vang Vieng. In 2019, the number of tourists visiting Vang Vieng was about 590,000 (including about 410,000 foreigners) (JICA, 2021), which is 10 times the annual population dependent on the tourism industry. Therefore, how to manage the business waste discharged by the tourism industry is a big theme. The Vang Vieng District MSW is more than 55 tons per day.
which is disposed of at a landfill at a rate of nearly 28 tons per day (JICA, 2021). The amount of MSW produced per person every day ranges from 1. This is significantly more than the amount produced in Vientiane capital (0.69 kg/person/day) (MoNRE-Lao, 2020). MSW management in Vang Vieng generally lacks awareness on the proper disposal of solid waste, bad scents, a swarm of flies, and a lack of waste separation into distinct containers are all issues that arise as a result of improper waste management and poor waste pickers' solid waste- related activities pose a major hazard to public health as well as an aesthetic issue in the city.
Waste management services are insufficient to meet public demand, 2 and waste collection vehicles are insufficient to reach all communities. Without a recycling or composting program, the majority of waste is thrown in landfills. The problem of solid waste is becoming more and more severe every year as a result of a lack of cooperation with various sectors and a lack of effective management. Local government organizations dispose of solid waste by going to open dumping or open burning, which is not sanitary and affects the environment and public health, such as bad smells, wastewater from solid waste leachate contaminating water sources, is a breeding ground for pathogens, and air pollution.
The concept of a circular economy is not yet widely popular in Laos. However, local governments have adopted the concept of 3Rs to manage more waste especially in terms of reuse and recycling, but that is still not enough to create sustainability in MSW management. Therefore, if the circular economy concept is fully applied, it should be more sustainable. Because of the importance of the issue mentioned above, this thesis is expected to provide insights of the MSW management in Vang Vieng, solutions to apply CE into MSW management in Vang Vieng, and thus contributing to sustainable development of Vang Vieng district.
Research Objectives - To evaluate the current status of MSW management in Vang Vieng district. - To assess opportunities and barriers of MSW management toward CE in Vang Vieng district - To propose some solutions on how to apply the concept of the CE to MSW management in local administrative organizations 3 CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW 1. MSW generation MSW means waste from paper, rags, food waste, waste products, waste materials, plastic bags, food containers, ash, manure, animal carcasses, or anything else that is cleaned from streets, markets, animal farms, or anywhere else. It includes infectious, toxic or hazardous waste from a community or household, except for the unused materials of the factory, which are characterized by and properties defined by the law (Salimar, 2019).