Awareness and willingness to reduce single use plastic in hanoi in relation to climate change mitigation

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOIVIETNAM JAPAN UNIVERSITY NGUYEN THI DANG HUE AWARENESS AND WILLINGNESS TO REDUCE SINGLE-USE PLASTIC IN HANOI IN RELATION TO CLIMATE CHANGE MITIGATION MA

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI

VIETNAM JAPAN UNIVERSITY

NGUYEN THI DANG HUE

AWARENESS AND WILLINGNESS TO REDUCE SINGLE-USE PLASTIC IN HANOI IN RELATION TO CLIMATE

CHANGE MITIGATION

MASTER’S THESIS

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI

VIETNAM JAPAN UNIVERSITY

NGUYEN THI DANG HUE

AWARENESS AND WILLINGNESS

TO REDUCE SINGLE-USE PLASTIC

IN HANOI IN RELATION TO

CLIMATE CHANGE MITIGATION

MAJOR: CLIMATE CHANGE AND DEVELOPMENT

CODE: 8900201.02QTD

RESEARCH SUPERVISOR:

Dr TAKEUCHI RYO ASSOC.PROF TAMURA MAKOTO

Hanoi, 2020

I declare that this master thesis has conducted by the author This result hasnot submitted to any papers and hasn’t published yet The references andcitations from research paper, book, report, websites were in the list ofreferences of the thesis

Author of the thesis

Nguyen Thi Dang Hue

TABLE OF CONTENT

PLEDGE i

TABLE OF CONTENT ii

LIST OF FIGURES iv

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS vi

ACKNOWLEDGMENT vii

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1

1.1 Research background 1

1.2 Motivation 3

1.3 Purpose of the study 4

1.4 Scope 4

1.5 Research questions 5

1.6 Hypothesis 5

1.7 Structure of the thesis 5

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW 7

2.1 Single – use plastic 7

2.1.1 Plastic bags 9

2.1.2 Plastic takeaway food containers 12

2.2 Plastic issue and climate change 13

2.2.1 Heat emissions from crude oil making 13

2.2.2 Greenhouse gases emission from plastic waste treatment 14

2.2.3 Greenhouse gases emission from plastic 16

2.2.4 Impact on the oceanic carbon sink 17

2.3 Waste management in Vietnam 19

2.4 Mitigating plastic related greenhouse gas emissions 21

CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY 25

3.1 Research process 25

3.2 Sampling and data collection 25

3.3 Questionnaire design 26

3.4 Statistic method 26

3.5 Expert method 27

3.6 Study site 27

CHAPTER 4: RESULTS 29

4.1 Background information 29

4.2 Consumption behavior 30

4.3 Environmental impacts awareness 39

4.4 Willingness to reduce 42

4.4.1 Single – use plastic container 42

4.4.2 Single – use plastic bag 47

CHAPTER 5: DISCUSSION 52

CHAPTER 6: CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION 58

6.1 Conclusion and recommendation 58

6.2 Limitation 60

REFERENCES 62

APPENDIX 67

LIST OF FIGURES

Figure 2.1: Disposal of all plastic waste generated in 2015 7

Figure 2.2: Single- use plastic bags life cycle 11

Figure 2.3: Plankton processes 18

Figure 2.4: Waste collection process 20

Figure 2.5: Net greenhouse gas emissions from source reduction and municipal solid waste management option 22

Figure 3.1: Research process proposed by the author 25

Figure 4.1: Gender and aged of respondent 29

Figure 4.2: Education level 30

Figure 4.3: Number of single - use plastic container per week in general 30

Figure 4.4: Number of single - use plastic container used base on gender per week 31

Figure 4.5: The number of containers use base on ages 32

Figure 4.6: Reusable container usage 32

Figure 4.7: The reasons for bring reusable container 33

Figure 4.8: The reason for not bring reusable container 34

Figure 4.9: Number of plastic bags used per week 35

Figure 4.10: Plastic bags usage base on gender 36

Figure 4.11: Plastic bag used after carrying 36

Figure 4.12: Reusable bags usage status 37

Figure 4.13: The reason for not bringing reusable bags 38

Figure 4.14: Environmental impact awareness 39

Figure 4.15: Environmental impact awareness with detail 39

Figure 4.16: Important of the environmental issue (on a scale from 1 to 5) 40

Figure 4.17: Sources of information 41

Figure 4.18: Shopping priority 42

Figure 4.19: Willingness to reduce single – use plastic container 43

Figure 4.20: Willingness to reduce single – use plastic container based on gender 44

Figure 4.21: Willingness to reduce plastic container based on age 44

Figure 4.22: Willingness to cooperate by paying for single - use eco-friendly container 45

Figure 4.23: Education level and willingness to cooperate by paying for single–use eco-friendly container 46

Figure 4.24: Willingness to reduce the usage of single – use plastic bag ingeneral 47Figure 4.25: Willingness to reduce the usage of single – use plastic bag based

on gender 47Figure 4.26: Willingness to reduce the usage of single – use plastic bag based

on ages 48Figure 4.27: Willingness to cooperate to stop taking plastic bag at theshopping places 49Figure 4.28: Education and willingness to cooperate by how people accept tostop taking plastic bag at the shopping places 49Figure 4.29: The acceptance of strategies to reduce plastic bags 50

High-Density PolyethyleneIntergovernmental Panel on Climate changeLow-Density Polyethylene

Linear Low-Density PolyethyleneMetric ton

Ministry of National Resources and Environmentkilowatt - hour

PolypropylenePolypropylene terephthalatePolylactic acid

PolystyrenePolyvinyl chlorideWaste and Resource Action ProgramAgency for Toxic Substainces and Disease Registry

I’m grateful to our faculty lectures of the Master in Climate Change andDevelopment Program, Vietnam Japan University, who has given me manyguidance to process my project

I’m very thankful to my supervisors - Dr Ryo Takeuchi and Assoc.Prof.Makoto Tamura, who provided insight and expertise that greatly assisted theresearch and always encourages me, and to Bui Thi Hoa – MCCD programassistant for helping me during doing survey, and to my classmates Tieu ThiDiu, who was patient to help me while I was processing the data I want toexpress my appreciation to the lectures, staffs in Ibaraki University and friendespecially Suziki Shunya for supporting me so much during the internship

I would like to show my appreciation to all of friends who helps me to share

my survey, and to everyone who spend time to review and give thecomments

Finally, I would like to express our gratitude to all the people who help me byproviding their valuable assistance and time for this study

Nguyen Thi Dang Hue

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1.1 Research background

Increasing plastic waste poses threat to globally sustainable development asthey are destroying ocean ecosystem and sustain in the environment forhundreds of years Plastic production is one of the industrial productionactivities causing serious pollution to the air environment (Center forInternational Environmental Law, 2019) The amount of harmful emissionswith extremely unpleasant odors seriously affects the health of those exposed

In the process of burning plastic will produce toxic substances, including 3toxic gases: CO2, SO2 and vinyl chloride In the long term, they also affect theatmosphere, creating a greenhouse effect

The plastic production in global scale has been increasing rapidly since past

50 years When comparing the global production of 1950, which respectivelyaccounts for 2 million tones, annual production has increased nearly 200-fold,reaching 381 million tones by 2015 (Plastic global production, 2018) Whilethe impacts of plastic waste causing to the environment, the ecosystem,especially the marine ecosystem have been clearly shown, the effects of

plastic on climate change are gradually being clarified (Center forInternational Environmental Law, 2019) The plastic production is highlydependent on fossil coal, a non-renewable resource In 2019, the burning andproduction of plastic contributed 850 million metric tons of GHG to theatmosphere This is equivalent to emissions from 189 megawatt coal firedpower plant

By 2030, this amount of emissions could reach 1.34 gigatons per year if

plastic production and use grow under the current plan This is equivalent toemissions from more than 295 new 500 MW coal fired power plants By

2050, the accumulation of these GHGs emissions from plastics can exceed 56gigatons per year, accounting for 10-13% of the remaining carbon budget, theplastics industry can account for 20% of the world's total oil consumption.The increase of GHGs emission from plastic sector will threat the ability ofglobal communities to limit the total global temperature rise below 2 degreesCelsius and making efforts to stay below 1.5 degrees Celsius as theIntergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) in October 2018highlighted in an IPCC special report on the impact of global warming of 1.5degree Celsius.

In particular, plastic product packaging (plastic bags, plastic bottles, productpackaging) accounts for about 36% Plastic construction materials, householdappliances and other types of industries such as electronics, electricity, andtransportation account for 16%, 36% and 12% respectively (United NationEnvironmental Programme, 2018) In 2015, plastic packaging wasteaccounted for 47% of the world's plastic waste, half of which seemed to comefrom Asia

Vietnam, China, Indonesia and Philippines are among top 20 countriesproduce the highest amount of plastic waste to ocean Vietnam is ranked asthe fourth country that discharge plastic waste into the ocean with 1.83million metric tons per years, after China in the first place with 8,82 millionmetric tons, Indonesia in the second place with 3.22 million tons, Philippines

in the third place with 1.88 million metric tons (Jambeck et al., 2015)

According to the National Environment Report in 2015, solid waste is mainlytreated by dumping or incineration The main sources of waste are Hanoi city,Hai Phong city and Ho Chi Minh city With the proportion of products in thetotal volume of plastic products produced annually, plastic packaging in

Vietnam has an average output of about 1 million tons/year According toprevious data, the average consumption of plastic is about 25 – 35kgplastic/person/year Up to now, with the growth rate of plastic industry ofabout 15 – 20%/year, at the same time the economic life is growing, theaverage plastic consumption reaches more than 40kg/person/year.

Along with future economic and population development, the amount ofplastic waste will also increase rapidly, while land fund for landfill isshrinking, outdated waste treatment technology, create a heavy burden on theenvironment and human health

In addition to the single - use plastic waste treatment measures such asapplying modern treatment technology, sorting waste from sources, taxes andprohibited laws, reducing the use of single - use plastic from consumers is asolution in the context of a developing country like Vietnam Therefore, it isnecessary to raise people’s awareness on environmental impact of plasticwaste and understand level of willingness to reduce the use of single-useplastic The study will present the current situation of single – use plasticconsumption in Hanoi And the results will be valued as the base for policymakers to issue regulation or to organize media campaign to reduce single –use plastic waste

1.2 Motivation

Given the fact that plastic pollution becomes urgent all over the world ingeneral and in Vietnam in particular, there is a lack of study on Vietnamesepeople’s awareness on single – use plastic consumption

In the context of the Government of Vietnam efforts to eliminate disposableplastic year by 2025 and prevent the amount of waste spilled into the ocean bythe Prime Minister's decision to promulgate a national action plan on ocean

plastic waste management by 2030 On 9th June, 2019, Prime MinisterNguyen Xuan Phuc stated Vietnam has aimed to stop selling single – useplastic at supermarket by 2021 Hanoi City President Nguyen Duc Chung alsosaid Hanoi will make efforts to December 2020 to ban plastic bags in allshopping centers As impacted by global movement on anti-plastic waste,Vietnamese government has organized media campaign to raise people’sawareness on plastic waste harmfulness.

1.3 Purpose of the study

The aim of the research is to provide the information relate to Hanoipopulation’s attitudes towards the consumption of single-use plastic bags byshowing their level of willingness to reduce

This research also identified the Hanoi population’s awareness of humanhealth impact and environmental impacts caused by single –use plastic

Base on the results, some recommendations will be given This result may beused by any organizations such as Government authorities, non-profitorganization, or individuals in order to create the strategies and take actionsbased on the actual attitudes

1.4 Scope

The study is aimed at people from 18 years old and older living in Hanoi Bycreating an online questionnaire using Google forms, both closed and open;and face to face survey The questionnaire will be sent to respondents viaFacebook social networks The link to the questionnaire will be posted on theresearcher's Facebook and ask everyone in the friends list to share it withothers, to increase the diversity of respondents

1.7 Structure of the thesis

Six chapters were designed in this thesis, as presented as below:

 Chapter 1: Introduction

This chapter briefly introduces about the background of research, research objective, research questions and scope

 Chapter 2: Literature review

This part provides the fundamental information about single – use plastic, therelationship between plastic and climate change and reducing plastic relatedclimate change mitigation

 Chapter 3: Research Methodology

The process of the research, sample size and data collection, the data analysis method are described

 Chapter 4: Results presentation and finding

This chapter presents the data collected and show the results after analysis from Excel and Chi- square

 Chapter 5: Discussion

The research question will be answered in this part, adding more information

to explain and the result from expert interview

The discussion about reducing plastic and climate change mitigation

 Chapter 6: Conclusion and recommendation

Summary the main issue from data analysis and discussion, giving some suggestions, also limitations and further research direction

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 Single – use plastic

According to United Nations Environment, single-use plastics, or disposableplastics, are used only once before they are thrown away or recycled Single –use plastic is made of plastic which is lightweight, sanitary, frustrate material.These items are things like plastic bags, straws, coffee stirrers, soda waterbottles, containers, cups, cutlery and most food packaging

In 2015, the waste of plastic packing occupied for 47% of the global plasticwaste generated, Asian a lone contributed half of the total

9%

12%

79%

recycled Incinerated Landfill and dumping

Figure 2.1: Disposal of all plastic waste generated in 2015 (Roland Geyer et

al., 2017)Once no longer in use, a product or package may be recycled, incinerated,buried, dumped in an uncontrolled location, or disposed of into the

environment Because of the percentage of recycling is just 9 %, 12 %, so themost of the plastic waste was solve by landfills or dumping into the

environment (Roland Geyer et al., 2017)

Plastic cannot be biodegraded It will take hundreds of years for them to split

up into small pieces that known as micro-plastics Especially, the productionsmade of expanded polystyrene foam might need thousands of years todecompose

If plastic waste leaks into the environment, it will cause problems Plasticbags can block waterways and worsen natural disasters by clogging sewers.Plastic bags and bottles also provide breeding grounds for mosquitoes andpests, which can increase diarrhea and infectious diseases Polystyrene foamproducts, containing carcinogenic chemicals like styrene and benzene, arehighly toxic when ingested and can damage the nervous system, lungs andreproductive organs The toxins in the foam can seep into food and drinks Inpoor countries, plastic waste is often burned by heat and cooking, and peopleare exposed to toxic gases Burning and disposing of plastic waste in anoutdoor pit releases toxic gases such as furan and Dioxin (United NationEnvironmental Programme, 2018)

The application of plastic for single – use production is various LDPE ismaterial for plastic bags, trays, food packing film and containers Waterbottles and other drinks, biscuit trays, dispensing boxes for cleaning fluids aremade of PET Milk bottles, bags for freezers, soap bottles, ice creamcontainers are made of HDPE PS can be used to make cutlery, plates andcups EPS is applied to produce hot drinks cups, insulated food packing,fragile items with protective packing There are some familiar products likemicrowave dishes, ice cream tubs, potato chip bags, bottle caps are made ofPP

When it first came out, plastic bags were considered an alternative to paperbags at the time to reduce deforestation and timber in the 1960s When at thattime, paper bags were the common way to carry and carry things (Petru,2014) When it was first launched in the US in the 1970s, plastic bags werenot quickly accepted by consumers at the time Manufacturers of plastic bagshave resorted to media campaigns to try to change consumer attitudes in

actively accepting plastic bags It was not until 1977 that Americansupermarkets began to provide plastic bags to consumers when shopping.Europe began to supply them consistently in the 1980s In the 1990s,developing countries began to popularize plastic bags Today, plastic bagsbecome popular worldwide with between 500 billion and 1.5 trillion plasticbags used for shopping each year (Jennifer Clapp et al., 2009)

Single-use plastic bags are widely used because they are tough, cheap andhygienic to transport goods Plastic grocery bags consume less energy andwater to produce and produce less solid waste than paper bags, taking up lessspace in landfills The advantages of plastic bags have helped them to bewidely consumed and become globally popular However, they are alsodifficult to recycle and adversely affect the environment, especially when welack in management (United Nation Environmental Programme, 2018)

According to zero waste Europe, there are three basic types of normal plasticbags and 1 type of degradable plastic bags In particularly, High DensityPolyethylene (HDPE) bags are used for making unbranded bags and is oftenused in markets, service stations and grocery stores HDPE bags are producedfrom ethylene and are by-products of gas or oil purification In the US, thesetypes of bags used in grocery stores and supermarkets usually have athickness from 0.7 to 1.75 mils, including the handle straps The fact thatthese types of bags have handles to distinguish them from bags used only towrap foods such as vegetables, meat, fish at each counter to bring to thecashier Low Density Polyethylene (LDPE) bags are branded printed bags andare used at places that sell higher value goods at shopping malls or stores.These types of bag usually have a thickness range from 2.25 to 3 mils ingeneral LDPE is also a side product of gas or oil filtration and is also madefrom ethylene (Wagner, 2017) Non-woven Polypropylene is the type ofplastic used to make reusable bags.

In recent years, biodegradable plastic bags are also a product of publicattention to replace conventional plastic bags These types of bags have theability to decompose through the action of bacteria, algae, fungi Synthetic orbiological polyesters such as potatoes, corn, sugar are material to makebiodegradable bags (ICF, 2010) However, biodegradable bags cost more thanplastic bag; therefore, the manufacturers and retailers are not interested inpromoting the use of bio-bags (MESTECC, 2018)

The recycling rate of plastic bags is quite low There is no exact statistics onthe number of plastic bags once recovered and reused According to a report

by the US Environmental Protection Agency, 2015 plastic bag recovery ratewas 12.3%, down 1.2% compared to 2013 (US EPA, 2015) Normally, ifplastic bags are collected and recycled, they will have to be sorted at source to

avoid mixing with other types of recycling, affecting quality However, thecost for sorting is high and the recycling value of plastic bags is very low.Therefore, plastic bags are considered as disposable products The recycling

of plastic bags is mainly based on individual people, which can be used morethan once, such as storage of household items, garbage, and containers whentaken out (WRAP, 2015)

Nevertheless, even when plastic bags can be reused, it depends on theconsumer's personal awareness and it is important that they still becomegarbage in landfills, in incinerators or thrown out into the environment From

a study of ICF International in California in 2010 about Master EnvironmentalAssessment on Single – Use and Reusable bags, the life cycle of the single –use plastic can be displayed in figure 3 below

Figure 2.2: Single- use plastic bags life cycle (ICF International, 2010)

2.1.2 Plastic takeaway food containers

In the report of Plastic Food Containers Market 2019, Global IndustryAnalysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends and Forecast -2024, plastic foodcontainers are defined as the container that hold foods in the form of boxes,cans, or jars These plastic containers are used for takeaway, take out or orderfood online

Polystyrene was discovered in 1839, was produced in the 1930s, was firstfoamed in the 1940s and first sold as a cup of coffee in the 1960s.The termpolystyrene refers to a polymer (long-chain molecule) of styrene monomers(smaller molecules) Many gases have been used to pump it into the foam.The raw material produced is hydrocarbon including ethylene and benzenefrom oil and natural gas (SEJ, 2019)

Foamed plastic is the most used material for the production of takeaway foodcontainers It is also known as Styrofoam There are two main types ofStyrofoam: foam polystyrenes and foam polyurethanes Foam polystyrenescan be further classified - based on the manufacturing method - into expandedpolystyrenes (EPS) and extruded polystyrenes (XPS) Because lightweightproducts - such as plastic bags - can easily get blown away by the wind Theycan float in water and break into small highly toxic fragments entering thefood chain These products also take thousands of years to decompose (UnitedNation Environmental Programme, 2018)

Styrofoam will cause long-term environmental impacts because it takes morethan 500 years to decompose Like plastic bags, Styrofoam boxes can berecycled, however, because the collection and disposal costs are much higherthan the profits, all the one-time Styrofoam boxes or food containers arediscarded after the first use (Barnes, 2011) These types of foam boxes are

capable of causing cancer and complications of the nervous system,respiratory, reproductive, kidney and liver Because they contain toxicchemicals like styrene and benzene The toxins are more easily absorbed intofood and drink through reheating (ATSDR, 2020).

The takeaway food market has grown rapidly due to its convenience and

competitive prices Global delivery market, valued at $89 billion in 2015, isexpected to grow 2.7% per year to more than $102 billion by 2020(TechNavio, 2016)

In Vietnam, The Southeast Asia Digital Economy Report, published by theGoogle partner group, Vietnam's technology ride-hailing market, whichincludes food delivery, has now reached the $1 billion mark this year Fromnow until the next 6 years, this market will continue to maintain a compoundannual growth rate of nearly 40%, to reach the scale of 4 billion USD in 2025 (Vietnam Television, 2019)

2.2 Plastic issue and climate change

2.2.1 Heat emissions from crude oil making

According to “the use of crude oil in plastic making contributes to globalwarming” (Gervet, 2007), the net generation from plastic making isoverestimated Unfortunately, it is not possible to know the amount of plasticthat already burnt or decomposed Moreover, it is not known whether to crudeoil production reports consider the oil related raw material in plastic making.The net heat generation from the use of crude oil in plastic making is roughly0.414 kWh from 1939 – 2000 It corresponds to 1.3% of the missing heat andcontributes to 0.5% of the global warming Its contribution is about the samemagnitude with the gas flaring, less than impact of nuclear power, but morethan coal fires The contribution of plastic production and disposal to climate

change has been largely hidden which estimates the GHGs footprint of plasticfrom the cradle to the grave for the first time (Center for InternationalEnvironmental Law, 2019).

After the extraction of fossil fuels to produce plastic, the carbon footprint of amaterial which has become ubiquitous across the globe continues through therefining process, and on well past its useful life as a drinks bottle or plasticbag, through the way it is disposed of and the plastic afterlife, most of plasticitems sustain for more than 200 years in the environment prior to decay somost of them are dumped into landfill

2.2.2 Greenhouse gases emission from plastic waste treatment

As mentioned before, plastic products contribute directly or indirectly togreenhouse gas emissions, from production to refining and transport Theeffects of plastic products on the climate do not end when they are thrownaway They will continue to be a climate threat through the disposal of plasticwaste such as recycling, landfill, incineration, and an amount of waste that isfreely dumped into the environment Among these types of disposablepackaging, plastic packing is one of the types that cause the most problemsbecause of the unique, disposable packaging characteristics Therefore, plasticpacking accounts for 40% of the total waste

According to the report published by Center for International EnvironmentalLaw (CIEL) about the hidden climate polluter from plastic incineration,plastic packaging burns an additional 16 million tons of GHG into theatmosphere at a global level This is equivalent to more than 2.7 millionhouseholds using electricity every year If the petrochemical industry expands

by 2050, GHG emissions from burning plastic packaging will increase to 309million tons These estimates only account for plastic packaging, which

accounts for 40% of total plastic waste and 64% of plastic packaging waste ismanaged after use This is just over a quarter of plastic waste Therefore, thepotential for much bigger climate impacts still comes to rest.

Plastic waste is still increasing, and greenhouse gas emissions from plasticwaste incineration have also increased despite the urgency of addressing

plastic pollution and climate change by reducing plastic use and burning.The quantity of gases emitted from dumping grounds and landfill sitesdepends considerably on the air temperature and climatic season It increaseswhen the temperature is high and the emission quantity in summer is higherthan in winter It is estimated that in the degradation process of garbage, 30%

of the gas emission from landfill sites can lead to the ground surface withoutany intervention Greenhouse effect due to the emission of CH4 and CO2.Burning waste produces carbon dioxide and smoke containing particlesharmful to health, but smoke also contains small black particles that have asignificant impact on the climate in the short term The amount of soot ismaximized when the garbage contains two types of plastic: polystyrene andpolyethylene terephthalate (commonly abbreviated as PET, commonly used inthe manufacture of beverage bottles) When burning waste containing fiber,many of which are plastic and soot emissions rise (Natalia et al, 2019)

Black carbon from burning open waste has an effect of global warmingequivalent to 2% to 10% of global carbon dioxide emissions If this situationdoes not change, this problem is set to get worse as the amount of waste wethrow away is expected to increase by 70% by 2050

Compared to other plastics and organic wastes, large carbon black emissionfactors are observed, especially with PET and polystyrene, which means theseresins are a major source of overall black carbon (Natalia et al, 2019)

2.2.3 Greenhouse gases emission from plastic

In 2018, a study from Hawaii University led by Sarah - Jeanne Royer showedthat the increasing accumulation of plastics in the environment contributes toclimate change These effects are the result of plastic exposure to solarradiation in a decaying or degrading environment The study also shows that

of the most commonly used plastics worldwide, LDPE, the most abundantplastic found in the ocean, releases methane, ethylene, ethane and propylene

at the highest levels Another finding suggests that the larger the surface area

of the plastic, the greater the release of greenhouse gases For example,sanitized LDPE produces methane up to 488 times faster than pellet form atthe same weight

The study has proven that plastics exposed to sunlight produce more gas.LDPE releases about twice as much methane and 76 times as much ethylenewhen exposed to air than when incubated in water As such, the plasticfloating on the ocean surface and the plastic on the shallow environment emitgreenhouse gases even though it has not been mentioned

After a period of survival in the environment, the plastic exposed toenvironmental conditions such as temperature, light, and moisture will begin

to weaken, often becoming brittle and breaking into small pieces In waterlike the ocean, biodegradation, oxidative degradation, thermal degradation,hydrolysis and solar radiation contribute to greenhouse gas production

This finding suggests that a large amount of greenhouse gases from plasticwaste has not been shown in the past And that amount of greenhouse gasestends to increase as the amount of plastic and plastic thrown into theenvironment still increases every year (Andrady, 2011)

2.2.4 Impact on the oceanic carbon sink

The ocean becomes the largest reservoir of greenhouse gases to absorbgreenhouse gases It absorbed 30% to 50% of the total CO2 from the industrialera in the late 18th century The problem of plastic waste in the oceanemitting greenhouse gases has been mentioned in many studies However, inaddition to those direct effects, a recent study also pointed out that the indirectimpact of plastic waste on the ocean affects climate change through its impact

on the activities of living organisms like Plankton, what brings carbon to thebottom of the ocean (Tim de Vries et al., 2017)

Plankton in the ocean includes phytoplankton and zooplankton They all playdifferent roles but are related to the absorption of CO2 and transport to theocean floor Phytoplankton is capable of photosynthesis absorbing nearly half

of the atmospheric CO2 Not only does it play a role in producing the firstfood chain for the ocean, plankton also contributes to 80% of the world's totaloxygen (Sarah Witman, 2017)

However, recent laboratory studies have shown that micro-plastic in water canharm to Plankton The smaller the micro-plastic size, the greater the potentialfor harm This directly affects their ability to absorb CO2 and produce oxygen.Laboratory experiments have shown that the phytoplankton are poisoned bymicro-plastic, reducing CO2 absorption by up to 45% The research provesthat phytoplankton easily integrate and form aggregates with microfloraparticles when they are in water (Gallo et al., 2018)

In addition to harm and adversely affect the uptake of carbon on the oceansurface by phytoplankton, plastic also harms zooplankton and transportscarbon to the ocean floor One can imagine phytoplankton as a carbon

fixture, while zooplankton will play a role in transporting deep into the ocean.Without this activity, the CO2 absorbed by phytoplankton would quickly bereleased back to the surface of the water and into the atmosphere.

Figure below illustrates the role of plankton in carbon exchange betweenatmosphere and ocean

Figure 2.3: Plankton processes (Andrew Brierly, 2017)

However, the presence of micro-plastic in the ocean has caused thezooplanktons to confuse it as food When zooplanktons are contaminated withmicro-plastic, its ability to absorb phytoplankton decreases by 40% Next, the

consequence of plastic poisoning is that the eggs of the zooplankton becomesmaller, with a higher mortality rate (Cole et al., 2016).

In the study of Cole et al., also indicated that, when zooplankton eatphytoplankton, the carbon they absorb is transported to the deep sea in pelletform The pellets slowly fall into the deep sea, where it settles into the mud onthe sea floor Studies show that microorganisms are transported below thesurface of the plankton However, if the pellets are contaminated withparticles, they will sink slowly and break more easily Therefore, the function

of transporting carbon into the deep sea of plankton is greatly affected

2.3 Waste management in Vietnam

According to Vietnam Standard about normal solid waste classification(TCVN 6705-2009), solid waste is classified as follows:

Domestic solid waste: including solid waste generated from households,commercial businesses and agencies;

Construction waste: Waste generated from construction /demolition activities;Ordinary industrial solid waste: Waste generated from processing and non-processing industries including craft villages

According to the report of Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment(MONRE) at the National Conference on Environment Protection, while theability to deal with waste is limited, Vietnam created more than 7 million tons

of industrial solid waste, more than 23 million ton of domestic waste everyyear (N.T.D et al., 2019)

In addition to indiscriminate dumping of waste, the disposal of wastecollected at official waste disposal sites does not conform to internationaldesign standards and is inefficiently operated Waste management in Vietnam

currently lacks the principle of "polluters pay" with very low fees hittinghouseholds and other emission units, and at least 80% of the costs aregenerated by the Government subsidized The actual collection, sorting,treatment and landfill activities are carried out by state urban environmentalcompanies Waste collection rates are reported to be around 85% of thepopulation in urban areas and 40% in rural areas, although actual figures may

be lower About 63% of collected waste goes to landfills and 22% (about14,000 tons / day) is taken to different treatment facilities (recycling accountsfor 10%, compost compost 4%, and incinerates 14 %) There are currentlyabout 105 waste treatment units, including small-capacity incinerators (42%),composting plants (24%), facilities incorporating composting incinerators andincinerators (24%), and other technologies (10%) The total installed capacity

is 17,600 tons /day (World Bank, 2018)

Figure 2.4: Waste collection process (World Bank, 2018)

According to a report by the Ministry of Construction, there are 660 landfills

in Vietnam receiving 20.200 tons of waste daily Out of these 660 wastedisposal sites across the country, only 30% are classified as valid landfills

(sanitary landfills require daily covering of rubbish, which is often uncommon

in Vietnam) The big cities like Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City also have largeburial sites with 85 and 130 hectares respectively Only 9% of landfills haveweight, and 36% have a bottom lining Most landfills do not have presses, gascollection systems, leachate treatment systems, environmental monitoringsystems and management constraints, mainly due to lack of funding(MONRE, 2019)

2.4 Mitigating plastic related greenhouse gas emissions

There are some options to reduce the GHGs from single – use plastic sector,plastic packing If 14 million Mt of plastic packing can be reduced to 7million Mt, 14.85 million Mt CO2e could have been prevented (US EPA,2009)

Another USEPA study compared climate change mitigation by different wastemanagement practices such as waste source recycling, recycling, incineration,composting and landfill Specifically, the study will test and compare ondifferent types of waste including HDPE, LDPE and PET The results showthat the option to reduce plastic waste is most effective in reducinggreenhouse gas emissions If the amount of waste were reduced by the 1990s,

18 million Mt of CO2e could be cut This is a significant contribution toclimate mitigation (US EPA, 2006)

Figure 2.5: Net greenhouse gas emissions from source reduction andmunicipal solid waste management option (US EPA, 2006)

The figure above shows that reducing the source of waste and recycling

benefits in reducing climate, in which source reduction is the highest.Meanwhile, burning waste adds greenhouse gases to the atmosphere, and withthe current rate of increasing plastic waste, the amount of greenhouse gasesalso increases rapidly

As a result of the amount of greenhouse gases from burning plastic waste, thistype of waste disposal plan should be considered for disposal Even whenplastic waste is being processed by burning to generate electricity, this formconsumes more energy, and results in further emissions of greenhouse gases.During incineration, waste is often mixed with leftovers, organic waste, thatcontains water, so that the amount of glass will produce more than normalbecause of the energy loss process (GAIA, 2019)

IPPC and several other organizations have measured GHGs emissons andmethod to reducing the emssion Although, there are some different ways toapproach but the common target are the similar that to keep the temperature

increasing 1.5C or below 2C If the production, consumption, andincineration after use continues to increase, the goal of keeping the warmingbelow 1.5oC will be ruined (Luke, 2018).

By 2030, these emissions could reach 1.34 gigatons per year - the equivalent

of more than 296 coal plants with the scale five –hundred –megawatt It isestimated that by 2050, plastic production and plastic incineration willcontribute an additional 56 million tons of CO2e, equivalent to more than 10%

of global carbon footprint And by the end of the century, plastic emissionscould account for one-fourth of total emissions, higher than energy groups,economic activities, transport and land use

Under the agreement of the countries in the Paris agreement, the countriesagreed to keep global warming below 2C However, these commitments havenot been achieved (UNEP, 2018) Therefore, the plastic production and wastedisposal activities has no room to emit The urgent requirement is to cutemissions from the plactic sector

As mentioned, emissions from the plastic's life cycle indicate that the plasticitself has caused the problem Reducing emissions during plasticmanufacturing is only partially, because burning plastic waste contributes alarge amount of emissions Therefore, a very effective way to reduceemissions is to reduce plastic consumption

At the 2019 global climate conference in Mandrid, experts from manycountries discussed the content of plastic waste, reducing plastic waste toreduce greenhouse gas emissions Acorrding to the press release of EITClimate-KIC, the discussion was chaired by EIT Climate-KIC, Europe'slargest public-private partner, to address climate change through innovation.The event will be co-sponsored by the non-profit non-governmental

organization, the Asia-Europe Foundation, to focus on developing a network

to strengthen the relationship between Asia and Europe by establishing aplatform to share learning experiences and exchange ideas

Compared to addressing climate change, it is much easier to solve the plasticemissions challenge It will cost less money, less time, less problems andfewer stakeholders And once the plastic sector's emissions are addressed,climate change is also addressed

CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY 3.1 Research process

Figure 3.1: Research process proposed by the author

3.2 Sampling and data collection

The primary data were gathered by author to find out the awareness of Hanoipeople and their willingness to reduce single – use plastic, in which the datawere collected as below:

The number of questionnaires were created online via google doc form is 217.And 50 questionnaires were done face to face

The advantage of implementing an online questionnaire is that it can reachmany respondents at the same time, saving costs, time, and respondents caneasily make honest choices without fear of being judged However, those whoresponded online are young people, have access to modern technology and

feel familiar with this form In addition, the online questionnaire does notguarantee gender balance among respondents So, direct interviews have beenadded to balance the above issue.

3.3 Questionnaire design

The questionnaire is divided in four parts, with 23 questions:

Part A: Consumption behavior (question 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 8, 9, 10, 11)

Part B: Environmental impact awareness (question 13, 14, 15)

Part C: Willingness to reduce (question 6, 7, 12, 16, 17, 18)

Part D: Background information (question from 19-23)

This study focused on 2 types of single – use plastics: plastic bags and plastictakeaway food containers The questions were divided equally between thetwo categories, except for the last question about the option to reduce the use

of single – use plastic bags Complementary questionnaire completed based

on the research experience of the research on willingness to reduce the use ofplastic bags before The results of that survey were not included in the totalnumber of questionnaires

3.4 Statistic method

After collecting data, the results will be processed on Excel Chi – square p –value in Excel will be used to compare the variables in contingency table ifthey are related

A Chi – square test will issue a p – value The p – value will present if theresults are significant or not (Statistic how to, 2020)

If p ≤ 0.05, the data fit the expected data extremely well

If p > 0.05, the data doesn’t fit well The result is not significant.

The formula for Chi – square statistic used in the Chi – square test is:

a direct interview After receiving consent, an interview took place for about

60 minutes at the office of the Legislation Department Topically designedquestions related to the research questionnaire to understand assessors'opinions, what programs have been implemented and will be implemented inthe future, solutions to mitigation issues disposable plastic in Hanoi from theexpert perspective

27

49.2% of the total population) The population in suburban districts is3.823.100 people (accounting for 50.8% of the total population) In the period

of 2018 to 2030, with the goal of developing strategies and plans (financial)

on options for improvement of solid waste management, the urban population

is expected to increase and the rural population will continue keep decreasing.Hanoi is one of the three cities along with Ho Chi Minh City and Hai Phongwith the largest amount of domestic waste nationwide (world bank, 2018) InHanoi, between 4,000 and 5,000 tons of waste products day, plastic wasteaccounts for 7 – 8%, about 80 tons of plastic and nylon are discharged into theenvironment (MONRE, 2011) The volume of solid wastes in Hanoi increase

on an average of 15%/year (MONRE, 2017) It is estimated that the wastecollection rate was 95% in inner district and 60% in outer district; this ratewas 80%-90% for industrial solid waste and 60 – 70% for hazardous wastes.According to incomplete statistics of MONRE, each household uses 5 – 7plastic bag/day

To facilitate the survey in the city area, the questionnaire was designed ongoogle and shared on social networks like Facebook To increase the diversity

of the respondents The questionnaire will be asked for wider sharing Allcitizens 18 years of age and older, who are living in Hanoi can participate inthe survey

CHAPTER 4: RESULTS 4.1 Background information

Figure 4.1: Gender and aged of respondent

As the results of the questionnaire implementation, 257 responses wereobtained from the distribution of the questionnaire Among the respondents,56% was female, 44 % was male The efforts have been made to provide fairquestionnaires among potential respondents to gain representation from bothsexes However, the number of female and male wasn’t be equal

During the implementation of the questionnaire, attempts were made to reachpotential respondents to gain representation from all age groups Figure 4.2depicts that the highest number of responses came from people under 26 to 35years of age (41%) Respondents from 18 to 25 years of age correspond to30% of the sample, followed by 20% from 36 to 45 years old and then, 5%from 46 to 55 years old and 4% from group of age more than 55

Figure 4.2: Education level

As figure 4.3 illustrates more than half of the interviewees (56%) went to

University and 18% attend college or vocational school, after university level

accounts for 10% of respondents For low education level, 9% of the

respondents went to high school, 7% went to secondary school None of the

respondents with the highest educational attainment is primary

Results from figure 4.4 show the situation of using disposable plastic

containers and foam boxes of people in Hanoi The choices were divided into

five different groups, respondents usually use one to three with the highest

45%, followed by up to 27% of respondents who said they did not use plastic

or foam boxes 1 week, a small number of the group using 4 to 6 pieces a week

is 15%, 10% is the representative of the respondents from 7 to 10 pieces a

week, there are still people using more than 10 boxes a week with 3% modest

In order to understand more specifically the level of willingness to reduce

dependence on gender, this chart was created to compare the differences between

the two sex groups However, there is not much difference in the level of use of

these two groups.