Norway and the Deposit - Refund Scheme for plastic waste.

On the morning of November 21, in Rach Gia City, the delegation of the Norwegian Embassy, led by Ms. Karin Isdahl, Commercial Counselor, Norwegian Embassy Trade Department, led the delegation. They had a meeting with leaders of the People's Committee of Kien Giang province, introducing the Feasibility Study on the Deposit - Refund Scheme (DRS) in Vietnam, helping recover recyclable plastic waste in Phu Quoc City. Mr. Le Quoc Anh, Vice Chairman of Kien Giang Provincial People's Committee, and leaders of a number of departments and branches welcomed and worked with the delegation.

Accordingly, the DRS mechanism operates on the principle that consumers must pay a small deposit when purchasing plastic bottles or beverage cans. The deposit will be refunded when they return the box to the designated collection point. This is similar to the way that beverage manufacturing and trading businesses previously applied to glass bottles.

According to assessments, Phu Quoc City currently generates about 300 tons of waste every day. Of these, about 50% is organic waste, which can be collected and composted to serve agricultural production, 30% is recyclable waste such as plastic bottles, and plastic waste from plastic bags, the remaining solid waste needs very little burial. Collecting waste for burial, and even burning it to generate electricity, is absolutely not a sustainable solution, but in the long term it is necessary to follow the direction of green technology, Net Zero carbon...

If the Deposit-Refund Scheme (DRS) is successfully implemented and applied, it will help Phu Quoc City collect a significant amount of plastic waste, which is being discharged carelessly, causing pollution at tourist destinations and beaches. From there, we aim to turn Phu Quoc into an urban area with a reduction in plastic waste, eliminate plastic pollution, and build a clean city - a blue ocean.​​