Handling of domestic solid waste in Ho Chi Minh City: Urgently building a modern waste incineration plant

According to the plan, in 1-2 years, Ho Chi Minh City will put into operation 2 waste-to-energy plants, processing about 40% of the total of more than 10,000 tons of domestic solid waste (CTRSH) discharged each day. So how will the remaining amount of waste be processed?

Completing investment procedures

Currently, most of the solid waste in the Ho Chi Minh City area is treated at the Da Phuoc Waste Treatment Complex (Vietnam Waste Treatment Company Limited) and the Northwest Solid Waste Treatment Complex. Of which, Vietnam Waste Treatment Company Limited receives about 5,000 tons/day; the Northwest Solid Waste Treatment Complex, Vietstar Joint Stock Company receives and treats about 2,000 tons/day. The remaining amount is received and treated by Tam Sinh Nghia Company, the City Urban Environment Company Limited. The treatment methods of the units are different but mainly landfill.

Vietstar Solid Waste Treatment Plant Project at the Northwest Solid Waste Treatment Complex (HCMC) at the commencement of construction

To ensure the environment, the leader of the Department of Agriculture and Environment of Ho Chi Minh City said that 5 units have registered to convert waste incineration technology to electricity generation, including Vietstar Joint Stock Company, Tam Sinh Nghia Development Investment Joint Stock Company, Tasco Joint Stock Company, Vietnam Waste Treatment Company Limited and City Urban Environment Company Limited. Up to now, 2 factories have started construction: Tam Sinh Nghia Waste Incineration Power Plant, with a capacity of processing 2,000 tons of waste/day, the project will be completed in 2026; VietStar Waste Incineration Power Plant project has a capacity of processing 2,000 tons/day, expected to be completed in 2027.

The remaining three projects are completing investment procedures. In addition to the above projects, the city will call for investment in implementing a new solid waste treatment project under the public-private partnership (PPP) method with a processing capacity of 2,000 tons/day and a capacity of 40MW, to treat the amount of waste that has long been buried at the Northwest Solid Waste Treatment Complex.

Thus, if in the short term only 2 waste-to-energy plants are completed, 4,000 tons of household waste will be handled each day. The remaining 6,000 tons of waste will continue to be handled in the “traditional” way of landfilling.

Proposal to supplement Power Plan VIII

According to the representative of the Department of Agriculture and Environment of Ho Chi Minh City, in terms of authority, the city continues to accelerate the implementation of waste-to-energy incineration projects, applying Resolution No. 28/2023/NQ-HDND stipulating criteria, standards, conversion roadmap for converted technologies and conditions, norms, unit prices, ordering prices... for investors in solid waste treatment projects converting existing technologies to energy recovery technologies. This is the basis for the Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee to consider and order additional quantities of solid waste to encourage investors in solid waste treatment projects to convert to advanced technologies.

In particular, for the newly added investment project under the PPP mentioned above, it is necessary to remove obstacles in the Power Plan VIII. Accordingly, in June this year, the Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee sent a document to the Ministry of Industry and Trade and the Prime Minister proposing to add potential power source projects in the area to the adjusted Power Plan VIII. Because previously, on April 15, 2025, the Government issued Decision No. 768/QD-TTg adjusting the Power Plan VIII, increasing the waste-to-energy capacity for Ho Chi Minh City (previously) by 220MW, the total capacity of power sources produced from waste by 2030 is 344MW. In fact, the city has allocated all capacity to 4 projects: phase 1 and phase 2 waste-to-energy incineration plants of Tam Sinh Nghia Investment Joint Stock Company, Vietstar Joint Stock Company, Tasco Joint Stock Company, and Vietnam Waste Treatment Company Limited. Therefore, the city has no basis to plan to add new projects.

However, after working with Tam Sinh Nghia Investment and Development Joint Stock Company on the progress of the project, the unit agreed to transfer part of the project's capacity to another unit. Based on this, the city proposed that the Ministry of Industry and Trade consider and report to the Prime Minister to allow the transfer of 40MW from the Tam Sinh Nghia Waste-to-Energy Plant Phase 2 project to the new supplementary project so that the city has a basis to implement the next steps. Currently, the adjustment is awaiting approval. Regarding the waste-to-energy project of the City Urban Environment One Member Co., Ltd., a representative of the Department of Industry and Trade said that they are waiting for the city's opinion to propose including it in the Power Plan VIII.

Proposing Da Phuoc landfill to extend garbage receiving time

On August 14, the Department of Agriculture and Environment of Ho Chi Minh City sent a document to Vietnam Waste Solutions Company Limited (VWS) regarding the time to receive domestic solid waste (SW) at the Da Phuoc waste treatment area.

The Department of Agriculture and Environment of Ho Chi Minh City informed that on August 11, the department received a document from VWS notifying about the hours for receiving solid waste. Accordingly, VWS said that from August 15, 2025, the Da Phuoc waste treatment complex will officially receive waste from 6 p.m. to 6 a.m. every day, instead of operating 24/7 as before. The Department of Agriculture and Environment of Ho Chi Minh City stated that adjusting the time for receiving waste at the Da Phuoc landfill will affect the collection and transportation of solid waste in the area. In order not to affect the collection and transportation of solid waste, the Department of Agriculture and Environment of Ho Chi Minh City requested VWS to adjust the time for receiving waste from October 1. During this time, the Department of Agriculture and Environment will work with localities and transport units to adjust the time for delivering solid waste to VWS.

THANH HIEN

Source: https://www.sggp.org.vn/xu-ly-chat-thai-ran-sinh-hoat-tai-tphcm-gap-rut-xay-dung-nha-may-dot-rac-hien-dai-post808426.html