A press conference this week was told that the municipal People’s Committee has approved a plan to reduce plastic waste in the capital. It was the latest effort by authorities to combat "white pollution" in the city that sees about 80 tonnes of plastic and nylon bags discarded every day, not all of which can be properly collected or treated.

According to the Hanoi  Environment Protection Division, the municipal People’s Committee demanded that 100 per cent of local organizations stop using PE plastic bags – the most common type but takes the longest time to decompose – and single-use plastics products from November.

The committee also set the goal of reducing the number of plastic items which are hard to recycle and decompose used in those organizations by 80 per cent.