Fruit, vegetable waste causes serious pollution
HCM CITY HCM City is facing ongoing issues from agro-product waste at its wholesale markets and has yet to come up with a solution.
Wholesale markets Bình Ñieàn, Thuû Ñöùc and Hoùc Moân discharge an estimated 240 tonnes of waste every night, most of which consists of waste from food processing and rotten vegetables, fruit and seafood products, Noâng thoân ngaøy nay (Countryside Today) reported.
Nguyeãn Huyønh Trang, vice director of HCM Citys Industry and Commerce Department, told the paper that every night, the three main wholesale markets received about 9,200 tonnes of goods, but around 240 tonnes were being discharged.
Most goods transported to the three markets are unprocessed agro-products and seafood, so the waste discharged everyday from food processing is huge.
At present, the three markets spend VNÑ2 billion (US$87,000) per month treating waste.
With 1,300 stalls receiving from 3,500 to 5,000 tonnes of goods every day, even 7,000 tonnes in special days, Thuû Ñöùc Wholesale Market releases 60 tonnes of waste per day.
The market had to pay VNÑ350 million (US$15,000) per month for removing the garbage
If waste from semi-processed agroproducts was effectively utilised, it would bring more profits to farm owners and help increase the competitiveness of Vietnamese products. DR. VOÕ MAI, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE VIEÄT NAM HORTICULTURISTS ASOCIATION
and cleaning the market, let alone a total monthly salary of VNÑ130 million (US$5,600) for a 14-member cleaning team, the paper said.
Meanwhile, each month Hoùc Moân Wholesale Market had to spend VNÑ160 million (US$7,000) on collecting 80 tonnes of waste.
The situation at Bình Ñieàn Wholesale Market is worse than the others because the market provides seafood to the city.
The smell and waste water spilling from the market has caused serious pollution in neighbouring areas.
Thanh Haûi, a stall owner, told the paper that every night she and her neighbours had to put up with the stink from the waste.
Wastewater spills all over the market, making the floors dirty and slippery all the time, she said.
But for a living, we have to live with waste. We just use masks so as not to inhale the stench, Thanh said.
Pollution in the markets has
also sparked concerns that the foods might become contaminated.
HCM Citys Department of Natural Resources and Environment admitted that pollution had badly affected residents.
To reduce waste, municipal authorities have asked traders to provide semi-processed goods to the markets.
Buøi Theá, vice director of the Department of Industry and Commerce in Lamâ Ñonà g, said the province had instructed producers and
traders to only supply semi-processed products to HCM City.
According to Dr. Voõ Mai, vice president of the Vieät Nam Horticulturists Asociation, waste from agro-products and food after semiprocessing could be used to produce organic fertilisers.
If waste from semi-processed agro-products was effectively utilised, it would bring more profits to farm owners and help increase the competitiveness of Vietnamese products, Mai said. VNS