HCM City (VNA) – Ho Chi Minh City is creating favourableconditions for investors to reuse and recycle garbage to produce electricity,according to Chairman of the city People’s Committee Nguyen Thanh Phong.

The official made his announcement last week while visiting aplant that recycles garbage to produce electricity at the Go Cat Solid WasteTreatment Complex in Binh Chanh district.

Around 1.5 million tonnes of solid waste from industry, and 8,300tonnes of garbage from household activities are discharged every day in thecity, Phong said. The volume will increase as the population grows and theeconomy develops.

The city aims to halve the amount of buried solid waste by 2020,with the rest recycled to produce energy and compost.

Recycling at the Go Cat Solid Waste Treatment Complex is beingdone on a trial basis with technology developed by Vietnamese scientists.

A representative of Hydraulic Machine Co said the People’sCommittee should expand treatment to a capacity of 1,000 tonnes of garbage perday. The company is working with the HCM City Urban Environment Co. to pilotthe recycling of garbage to produce electricity.

Phong said the committee had approved investment for a plant toproduce energy on a larger scale and that the Department of Natural Resourcesand Environment would evaluate results of the pilot.

The companies involved must carefully consider the environmentalimpact of each energy production project, he added.

Nguyen Toan Thang, Director of the city’s Department of NaturalResources and Environment, said the Go Cat Solid Waste Treatment Complex, whichcovers 25 ha, stopped receiving garbage in 2007. The total volume of garbage atthe facility at that time was 5.3 million tonnes.

The HCM City Urban Environment Co was assigned to operate andmanage the complex. The company is permitted to store non-hazardous industrialsolid waste, which is transported to the 45-ha Dong Thanh Waste TreatmentComplex in Hoc Mon district and other facilities.

Earlier this year, the company studied the recycling of garbageinto energy in Ha Nam province and submitted a proposal to the HCM CityPeople’s Committee for approval of pilot production at the Go Cat Solid WasteTreatment Complex.

If the pilot production is a success, technologies created byVietnamese scientists will be used by other waste treatment companies in thecity, Thang said.

Nguyen Gia Long, general director of Hydraulic-Machine Co, saidthe installment of systems for pilot production began in March.

The pilot plant has treated 500 tonnes of industrial garbage so farand produced 7MW, he said, adding that generated power was being used for thenational grid and the plant’s lights.

Nguyen Phuong Dong, deputy director of the city’s Department ofIndustry and Trade, said that under the city’s 2015-2025 electricitydevelopment plan, the city targets producing 100MW of clean energy usingbiomass, wind and garbage, as well as solar power.

Currently, renewable energy from garbage comes only from the GoCat pilot plant, Dong said.

Since its capacity is low, it is necessary to increase the outputof energy from garbage to reach the city’s target, he added.

Le Van Khoa, Vice Chairman of the city People’s Committee, saidthe two companies should also develop other ways to recycle waste to generatepower. The goal is to reduce the amount of buried waste in the city as much aspossible, he added.-VNA