Single-use plastic bags widely used (Photo: report.az)

Nguyen Trung Thang, Deputy Director of the Institute of Strategy and Policy on Natural Resources and Environment (ISPONRE) told a seminar on Wednesday that being aware of serious risks of plastic waste to the environment, Vietnam has issued a lot of legal documents related to this issue. The country strives to use 100% of environmentally-friendly bags at commercial centres and supermarkets.

He cited a survey by his institute as saying that up to 104,000 single-use plastic bags are used at supermarkets each day, equivalent to 38 million bags a year. Among the 48 supermarkets surveyed, 46 are providing plastic bags for free of charge.

The seminar summarizing the PLASTIC ALLIANCE pilot project was jointly held by ISPONRE, the Authority of Industry and Trade of Hanoi, and Expertise France – the European country's public agency in charge of international technical cooperation.

The PLASTIC ALLIANCE gathers 16 retailers that pledge to reduce the use of disposable plastic bags. It is part of the “Rethinking Plastics - Circular Economy Solutions to Marine Litter in Vietnam” project funded by the European Union (EU) and the German Government, and carried out by Expertise France.

The alliance has stepped up communication programmes directly at retailers and online on social media platforms to change consumers’ behavior in reducing the use of single-use plastic bags and plastic products.