Limiting plastic waste in tourism activities
6/12/2019 23:09 820
In recent years, Viet Nam's tourism has grown strongly in terms of both international and domestic visitors, gradually becoming a key economic sector and increasingly contributing to the overall development of the country. However, the increasing amount of littering in many popular tourist destinations, including large quantities of hard-to-decompose waste such as plastic bottles, bags, and packaging, has negatively impacted the environmental protection and public health.
Straws made from eco-friendly materials
According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
(FAO), Viet Nam emitted more than 1.8 million tonnes of untreated
plastic waste in 2018, accounting for nearly 6% of the world's plastic
waste. Viet Nam also ranks fourth in the world for the amount of plastic
waste dumped into the sea. In the World Economic Forum's global ranking
of tourism and tourism competitiveness reports, Viet Nam's
environmental sustainability is underestimated, ranking 129th out of 136
countries.
Recently, at the conference "Tourism without plastic waste" organised by
the Quang Nam Tourism Association, many figures startled the audience.
On average, Quang Nam creates 660 tons of waste daily, 92 tons in Hoi An
alone, of which plastic waste accounts for 18% to 20%. According to a
report from the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), an average of 155
tonnes of waste is generated every day in Phu Quoc, Kien Giang Province,
but only 91 tonnes are collected. The amount of plastic waste collected
by people is 10.8 tonnes per day, accounting for only 33.6% of the
total plastic waste generated. With green tourism becoming an inevitable
trend, tourists are increasingly concerned with environmentaly friendly
factors. As such, the overload of plastic waste in many areas and
tourist destinations will surely cause these destinations to "lose
points".
In fact, recently, aware of the importance of the urgent demand on
protecting the environment in tourism activities, some businesses,
especially reputable tourism enterprises, have pioneered in finding
solutions to limit plastic waste through specific actions. For example,
instead of dispensing drinking water with small plastic bottles, they
have moved to storing water in large bottles; meeting rooms and hotels
have turned to cups and glass bottles for reuse; plastic straws are
being replaced with straws made from eco-friendly materials such as
rice, bamboo, and stainless steel. Some travel units also develop travel
tours to collect rubbish on river branches or during a forest trekking
journey. This is a good sign that the people working in the tourism
sector have made positive changes in awareness and are growing
increasingly aware of environmental protection.
However, it is not enough if just rely on the change of some leading
enterprises. Therefore, in order to bring about significant results in
restricting plastic waste from tourism activities, a comprehensive and
specific strategy is required with the involvement of the State,
businesses and people. Currently, some countries in the world stipulate
that businesses wishing to do tourism business or joining tourist
associations and organizations must set out an action plan and commit to
doing business sustainably on the basis of environmental protection.
From the good experiences of other countries, Vietnam's tourism
management agencies should soon deploy the application of a wide range
of criteria for certification of sustainable tourism labels, green
tourism, and energy saving for agencies and tourism businesses, aiming
to contribute to improving management efficiency, and reduce negative
impacts of tourism activities on the environment. The certification also
helps affirm the reputation, enhance responsibility, and improve the
ability to attract tourists.
Additionally, through the media, it is necessary to call and mobilize
people and tourists to join in protecting the environment, limiting
plastic waste, and saving electricity and water. It is necessary to have
a mechanism to encourage units to research and produce alternative
materials. On the tourism business side, priority should be given to
products such as straws, mugs, bowls, chopsticks made with materials of
organic origin or that can be used repeatedly; to use organic or
reusable packaging and cleaning chemicals and utensils made from
environmentally friendly materials, with environmental protection
labels; and to distribute materials guiding tourists to respect the
regulations on environmental protection, limiting plastic waste.