Sent 14 April 2018. Part of Little Blue Letter.

"Without water, our planet would be one of the billions of lifeless rocks
floating endlessly in the vastness of the inky-black void"
~ Fabien Cousteau
No waste, no problem
Vietnam is facing an influx of imported plastic trash as China's recently enacted “Green Fence” policy has caused an exodus of recycling companies from the country. Yet many Vietnamese cities are already facing huge waste management crises: landfills are filling much faster than expected, leaving city governments scrambling to come up with a plan B. One quick fix has been incineration, but many substandard incinerators release toxic chemicals into the air.
An employee in the central province of Quang Binh tries to control a fire that raged for 10 days in a landfill, causing serious smoke pollution in the area and affecting hundreds of nearby households.
(VNA/VNS Photo Duc Tho)
 
Local environmental trailblazers are on the task, with international collaborators helping out. In June, the marine program at Pacific Environment joined local organizations in Ha Long City to conduct a household waste audit. Together, they collected, sorted, quantified, and recorded brand contributors daily from 60 households. Nearly 2/3 of household waste was organic, so it could be composted; 1/4 was recyclable; and only 12% truly needed to go to landfill. There are therefore many potential solutions, such as product bans or alternatives to single-use packaging that could further reduce the stream of waste headed to landfills.
Many grassroots organizations in Vietnam are advocating for zero waste. Cheap, practical, and sustainable, this solution targets the root of the issue: the over-consumption of disposable materials.
Gif of the week
Tweet of the week
With Vietnam as one of Asia’s current hubs of rapid industrialization, local waste management practices aren’t holding up. Watch to learn more about what must be done to counteract this ongoing issue! https://youtu.be/M1kR4w2V6Us #zerowaste #zerowastecoalition #breakfreefromplastic #Vietnam #protectourcoasts
From the editor
Music festivals in the UK produce 23,000 tons of waste every year, but now some are getting drastic on plastic. What is the environmental impact of Europe's warmer-than-ever seas? Science alone won’t save the Earth. People have to do that.Negotiations for a high seas treaty start in a couple of weeks at the UN in New York. We'll cover all the issues of ths exciting development in the coming weeks. While not officially on the table, momentum is growing among civil society for the closure of the high seas to fishing.
Little Blue Letter was curated this week by Emily Jiang. Emily is the Marine Program Writing & Communications Intern at Pacific Environment. She is currently a sophomore at Pomona College studying PPE (Philosophy, Politics, & Economics) and Anthropology and hopes to eventually go into non-profit work in Central or Southeast Asia.
Editing etc. by Glen Wright. Glen is a researcher studying marine governance, the high seas, and ocean energy. He is a drinker of tea, lover of the sea, and an Oxford comma user. Glen recently published Academia Obscura: The Hidden Silly Side of Higher Education.
 

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