Every day, Vietnam generates nearly 70,000 tons of household waste, with Hanoi and HCMC alone accounting for 23 percent. Yet the nation’s waste treatment infrastructure remains outdated, and the cost of collection and processing far exceeds the revenue from collection fees. To address this imbalance, several localities are planning to raise fees, promote waste separation at the source, and accelerate investment in modern treatment technologies.
Sharp rise in waste collection fees
Hanoi is preparing for a significant adjustment in household waste collection fees. Under the proposal, the current rate of VND6,000 per person per month in urban wards and VND3,000 in rural communes would jump to VND21,000 starting in 2025, and double again to VND43,000 in 2026—seven times the current level.
The increase is unavoidable, as current revenues fall far short of actual costs. In 2024, Hanoi collected just VND568 billion in waste fees, while spending VND2.3 trillion on collection and treatment—four times the revenue. Compared with other cities, Hanoi’s fees remain low: HCMC already charges VND84,000 per household per month, while Hai Phong collects VND40,000, Hung Yen between VND40,000 and VND60,000, and Da Nang VND30,000.
Still, critics argue that charging per capita is unfair, as waste volumes vary widely between households.
Responding to media questions on September 4, Mr. Ho Kien Trung, Deputy Director General of the Vietnam Environment Agency under the Ministry of Agriculture and Environment, noted that globally, waste fees are calculated in multiple ways—by volume, weight, water consumption, or even electricity usage. “The common principle is to accurately reflect the cost of treatment,” he said. “Hanoi’s per-capita model is one option, but it must be grounded in a fair and precise assessment of waste volumes.”
Technology - the critical bottleneck
Organic waste from food makes up 60–61 percent of daily household refuse nationwide, yet it is not effectively processed. According to Mr. Ho Kien Trung, the problem stems mainly from fragmented collection infrastructure. The Ministry of Agriculture and Environment encourages localities to work with businesses to convert organic waste into biomass energy and organic fertilizer. The ministry has pledged to share a list of enterprises with proven technologies to facilitate cooperation.
At the September 4 meeting, Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Environment Phung Duc Tien admitted that household waste treatment has been a chronic problem for years. “The greatest challenge is technology,” he stressed, citing Bac Ninh Province as an example: despite strong financial resources, local authorities struggle to identify suitable technologies to purchase.
He urged technical agencies to proactively introduce effective solutions to local governments and called for a review of waste treatment tariffs. “Current tariffs are too low, leaving many service providers frustrated. This remains one of the biggest barriers to investment in modern technology,” he said.
Nationwide, Vietnam generates around 69,400 tons of waste daily, with 91 percent treated. In urban areas, 37,259 tons are collected each day, with a treatment rate of 97.28 percent. In rural areas, 32,150 tons are generated, but only 80.5 percent is treated—most of it still by landfilling, though this share has dropped by 30 percent compared with 2012.
Hanoi alone produces about 7,300 tons per day, while HCMC generates roughly 14,000 tons—including recently merged administrative areas. Together, the two cities account for nearly a quarter of the nation’s waste output.
Waste separation at source remains largely at a pilot scale. Some provinces and cities have experimented with collection fees based on the weight or volume of sorted waste. HCMC, for example, has introduced specific service tariffs for collection, transport, and treatment.
Currently, municipal solid waste in HCMC is treated through sanitary landfilling, incineration without energy recovery, and composting. The city has set a target for 2025: at least 80 percent of household waste will be treated with modern technologies such as waste-to-energy and recycling, reaching 100 percent by 2030.
Tay Ninh’s waste-to-energy push
Mr. Vo Minh Thanh, Director of Tay Ninh’s Department of Agriculture and Environment, announced that the Thanh Hoa–Long An Waste Treatment Plant, located in Tay Ninh Province, is shifting from simple incineration to waste-to-energy, raising its capacity from 300 to 500 tons per day. The upgrade is expected to cut landfill volumes, curb pollution, and generate renewable energy revenue.
Tay Ninh currently collects and treats about 1,150 tons of household waste daily. The province has rolled out an ambitious plan to modernize its waste management system in line with the National Environmental Protection Planning for 2021–2030, with a vision to 2050. A 200-hectare national-level solid waste treatment hub in Tan Long Commune is set to become a comprehensive center handling household, industrial, hazardous, and sludge waste, all with advanced technologies designed to reduce landfilling.
The province also plans to expand and upgrade existing treatment plants and build new ones under approved plans, prioritizing waste-to-energy and composting while phasing out direct landfilling without treatment.
