composting in vietnam: present and future vision

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TRAINING COURSE ON ENVIRONMENTALLY FRIENDLY FERTILIZER

PRODUCTION, APPLICATION AND DEMONSTRATION FOR DEVELOPING

COUNTRIES

COMPOSTING IN

VIETNAM:

PRESENT AND

FUTURE VISION

Bui Hai An

VIETNAM ACADEMY OF AGRICULTURAL

SCIENCES

SOILS AND FERTILIZERS RESEARCH

INSTITUTE

Department of land and fertilizer economic uses

Address: Dongngac, Tuliem, Hanoi

Email: [email protected]

G U A N G Z H O U , J U N E 2 O 1 2

mailto:[email protected]

Individual final report in environmentally friendly Fertilizer Course, Guangzhou 2012

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

I would like to express my many thanks to all of the professors, organizers, other staffs

and volunteers from CICAT for all of their kindly deliver helpful lectures, and excited

events without any confused. Thank to their works, my classmates and I have haven

appreciated time in SCAU and Guangzhou.

I also thank my new friends in the class, comes from various regions, for their helpful

cooperation and support in the duration.

At last, I sincere thank to my family and to my office’s director board who give me a

special chance to attend the course.


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ABSTRACT

The modern composting methods were introduced to Vietnam since 1980s. Up to now,

there are some composting techniques have been developed by Vietnamese

companies. These techniques are combined technologies, which include 3 producing

chains: one to produce recycling plastic products, one to compost, and another to

produce renewable fuel products. The rest will be land filled. These techniques seem

to be suitable for the purpose of waste recycle, reuse and reduce in medium and big

cities. Furthermore, it also can be used in rural areas as a source of organic fertilizer.

There are some difficulties which are explained in this report that restrict the

enlargement of organic fertilizer using, in general and compost fertilizer application, in

individual. To reach the goal of enhancing organic fertilizer application, some

refinements should be done in the technique. Besides, the support of government and

socio are required.


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CONTENTS

ABSTRACT ................................................................................................................... 2

CONTENTS ................................................................................................................... 3

I. INTRODUCTION ...................................................................................................... 4

1. Composting in Vietnam: brief history ................................................................. 4

2. The main principles and processes of ASC technique. ...................................... 6

II. CONSTRAINTS AND SUBJECTS ........................................................................ 9

III. STRATEGY OF IMPLEMENTATION ............................................................. 10

IV. CONCLUSION ...................................................................................................... 11

V. RECOMMENDATION .......................................................................................... 11

APPENDIX................................................................................................................... 12


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I. INTRODUCTION

1. Composting in Vietnam: brief history

Vietnam, with thousands years of history, is a traditionally agricultural country. Up to

now, approximately 70 % of population lives in rural areas and agriculture contribute

about 25 % of annual GDP.

From the past, till now, agriculture producing process in Vietnam base on labor and

animal like cow to implement. Due to the lack of investment, for years, Vietnamese

farmers used the animal waste (usually cow excrements), plant residues as sources of

fertilizers with some very simple treatments. Popularly, straw and manure was piled up

together then would be used after weeks, when needed. It may be introduced as a

simplest way of composting in Vietnam. The treatment seems to be very useful due to

its low cost of investment and economical application. It also plays an important role

in aspects of environment and fertilization. In fact, for thousands years, this method of

treating manure provided main source of fertilizer for peasants. Besides that, it

helpfully improved soil fertility and reduced environment pollutions (though these

roles sometime were not recognized by peasants).

Picture 1. Using compost product in field Picture 2. Manure piled up with straw and

vegetable residues

Before 1990s, Vietnamese agriculture still kept in a backward situation. There were

low investment and less advanced technique applications. Due to that, low fertilizer

application led to the low affection to the environment. Besides, less developed

economy means that low quantity of industrial, municipal and other wastes released to

the environment. It also means that the productivity and production of agricultural


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products is too low. Of cause, the phenomenon must be changed to satisfy the greatly

increased demand of quickly rise of population.

From the 1990s, after the starting of innovation process, there has been an amazing

development in Vietnamese economy, especially in fields of agriculture. Vietnam once

was a rice importing country before 1990s; but in 1991, we started exporting rice and

other agricultural products though the population increased very quickly at that time

(more than 3 %/year of population growth rate). This is because of the change in

policy, the increasing in chemical fertilizer application and the extension of advanced

techniques.

Accompany with economy increasing, some environmental affairs also exposes. More

industrial activities, more industrial wastes; more households’ income, more

households consumes; and more agricultural products, more byproducts. All that kinds

of wastes comes to the environment, pollutes soil, water bodies and air.

In the field of Vietnamese agriculture and rural, some locally environmental problems

are observed. That may be the polluted products, water resources and soil. One

conclusion can be reviewed about these problems is that the main source of the

pollutants come from the chemical fertilizers and pesticides abuse. Otherwise, the

increasing in using chemical fertilizers and pesticides reduce the manure application,

which means that a large amount of manure and garbage are not treated and used as

usual, so they penetrate into the environment without any treatment. Not like those in

the past, they become a harmful source to environment and human health because of

their large amount.

Those situations are common in all developing countries and be more and more

dangerous as time gone by. It attracts the world’s attention. Many solutions are being

carried out to improve environmental health. One of them is composting.

Composting has many techniques to implement aim to the sources used. In developed

countries, the techniques usually point out for large scale factory due to their enormous

municipal solid waste sources. These manufactures and factories require high

investment and produce high quality and amount of products. Since 1980s, some of

these techniques have been introduced in Vietnam. For examples, in 1981, Dano

system, a Denmark’s technique was used in a factory built in Ho Chi Minh City (the

biggest city of Vietnam). This factory has capacity of 25,000 tons of organic fertilizer

per year, treated 240 tons of solid waste per day. Other one was built in Hanoi,

Vietnam capital City in 1992, using Aerated Static Pile Composting technique and


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temperature is controlled automatically. The factory has capacity of 210 tons per day.

Generally, these technologies are expensive investment and high implemented cost

though they have high capacity and good quality.

To adapt with the situation in Vietnam, some modified technologies of composting

were developed in Vietnam in recent years. In 2004, the first factory using ASC

technology, a technology designed by a Vietnamese company named An Sinh

company, was built in Hue City with capacity of 150 tons of waste treated a day. The

technology has been rapidly accepted in medium cities in Vietnam as a best solution

for municipal solid waste treatment. From 2004 up to now, this technology has

continually improved to reduce investment and increase performance. Now, it is the 4th

generation of the technology. Up to now, there are 3 factories applying this technology

in 3 cities with capacity of 200 tons solid waste a day for one factory.

Picture 3. Transferring band in factory

transfer organic material to treating area.

Picture 4. My master course classmates

and I visited the factory.

2. The main principles and processes of ASC technique.

The technique aims to recycle almost municipal solid waste. The inorganic waste will

be separated and reused to produce recycle plastic products, black bricks…. Waste

with high thermotherapy will be produced to renewable fuel and used in industrial

furnaces as an added or replaced resource for fossil fuels. The organic waste will be

composted. The inbiodegraded organic waste will be burned and other waste will be

land filled.

Generally, the waste sources come to factory will be separated to: raw organic material

(50 %), jute bags (3 %), nylon, iron (5 %), glass (2 %), bricks, stones and rubber (15

%) and combusting material (25 %).


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Processes of ASC technique includes:

- Chain to separate waste (manual separating);

- Composting chain (aerated static pile technique);

- Recycling plastic chain;

- Combusting indegraded material chain;

- Chain to Pressure solidifies inert inorganic material.

PHÂN LOẠI VÀ XỬ LÝ SƠ BỘ CHẤT THẢI RẮN ĐÔ THỊ HỖN HỢP BẰNG PP CƠ HỌC

Sorting and Pretreatment of Mixed Municipal Solid Waste by Mechanical Process

XỬ LÝ HỖN HỢP

CHẤT THẢI NHỰA

Treatment of Mixed

Plastic Waste

= PP TÁI CHẾ

SX VẬT LIỆU MỚI

by Recycling Process to

Produce New Material


CHẤT THẢI HỮU CƠ

DỄ PHÂN HỦY Treatment of Mixed

Bio-Organic Waste

= PP SINH HỌC

SX PHÂN BÓN

by Biological Process

(composting) to

Produce Fertilizer


CHẤT THẢI HỮU CƠ

KHÓ PHÂN HỦY Treatment of Mixed

Non-Bio Organic Waste

= PP NHIỆT

SX NHIÊN LIỆU,

NĂNG LƯỢNG MỚIby Thermal Process to

Produce RDF and

Renewable Energy


CHẤT THẢI VÔ CƠ

Treatment of Mixed

Inorganic Waste

= PP ĐÓNG RẮN

SX VẬT LIỆU XD

by Solidification Process

to Produce Building

Material

MÔ HÌNH KẾT HỢP CÁC HỢP PHẦN CÔNG NGHỆ SERAPHIN

(Áp dụng trong xử lý chất thải rắn sinh hoạt đô thị hỗn hợp)Seraphin Technology - Multi-Process Combinative Model in Treatment of Mixed Municipal Solid Waste

C.TY CP CÔNG NGHỆ MÔI TRƯỜNG XANH SERAPHIN. THÁNG 10/2006

Seraphin Green Environment Technology JSC. Oct-2006

Figure 1. Seraphin technology process.

In composting process, organic material was treated in closed house by aerated static

pile technique using 3 bio-products named as BP-C1, BP-C2 and BP-C3; emission gas

will be collected and treated by a bio-filter system. Some organic fertilizers will be

added to improve product quality.

In general, the process can be described as shown in figure 2.


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Figure 2. Diagram of composting process

Where:

1. Chain to transfer organic waste after separated

2. Grinding machine to grind organic waste before compost

3. BP-C1 and BP-C2 added

4. Chain to transfer waste to composting system

5. BP-C3 added

6. Closed house

7. Continuing composting windrow with large scale

8. Transferring and mixing machines

9. Environment controlling system

10. Mist spraying system and BP-C4 deodorized product

11. Air controlling system

12. Collecting and treating emission gases system

13. Output belt

14. Moisture decreasing system using hot air

15. Cage screening

16. Reduce size machine

17. Vibrating screening

18. Bagging bio-organic fertilizer

19. Inorganic fertilizers and other products added

20. Processing organic-inorganic fertilizer machine

21. Bagging organic-inorganic fertilizer.


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II. CONSTRAINTS AND SUBJECTS

The new technique has been introduced and refined in Vietnam since 2000s. It is

domestic product with low investment cost so it well adapts with Vietnam situations. It

easily assembles and maintains or operates. It also can easily refine. The technique is

helpful in recycling almost municipal solid waste, greatly reduce rate of landfill waste.

It is really meaningful for environmental subject.

Besides these advantages, there are some constraints restrict the development of this

kind of technique.

Firstly, the factory occupies a large area for composting process. That is really difficult

problem in the city, where land source is limited.

Secondly, Seraphin products were not well accepted because people always have a

problem in using the product produce from waste. Also, these kinds of products must

be strictly controlled to make sure that they do not contain some toxic compounds such

as heavy metals, which usually occur in solid waste at large amount.

Same as that, for composting products, finding a market is also a problem because it

has not been popular in Vietnam in using compost fertilizer. Since 1990s, chemical

fertilizers and compounds application have been rapidly increased in Vietnam

agricultural practices. This may be cause of the temporary effect of chemical fertilizers

and compounds in agricultural productivity. The useful application of chemical

compounds and fertilizers defeated the manure using. That is the reason why some

inorganic fertilizers are added into composting product to enhance the commercial

ability of the end products.

Furthermore, this technique has not been introduced to rural areas and seems not fit

with the characteristics of rural solid wastes, which usually are residues of agriculture

producing, such as excrements, manure, and garbage. In general, this technique

developed as a solution to deal with the large amount of solid waste in the medium and

big cities rather than a composting solution to produce an environmentally friendly

fertilizer like compost fertilizer.

Lastly, the technique has problem in synchronous and stable ability. This is because of

the restriction in financial and human resources.


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All of these constraints should be struggled to increase composting producing and

products in Vietnam, a good way to develop sustainably in agriculture.

III. STRATEGY OF IMPLEMENTATION

Through the course, I have gained helpful knowledge which can be useful to improve

compost producing and application in Vietnam. Focus on these above problems, we

can draw some strategies to fix these problems and enhance composting producing and

application in Vietnam.

1. Government support is a requirement for the promoting of all sectors, especially in

agricultural fields. To promote compost producing and application, the government

should deliver some policies supporting the related companies, such as in taxes policy.

It is may be good to cut off all the taxes for waste processing companies due to the

environmental benefits come from their activities.

Furthermore, government; through the mass media and agricultural extension system,

which well spread in Vietnam and be implemented by government regulations; should

extend the information and knowledge about the useful and advantages of compost

fertilizer and other organic fertilizers to farmers to encourage them in applying this

kind of fertilizers for a sustainable development of their community.

2. The technique needs some adjustment to adapt with rural areas. These

improvements should rely on the characteristics of waste sources in rural area:

excrements, manure or garbage. The scale of the machine may be smaller to fit with

the amount of waste in rural areas.

3. To collect, gather and separate all solid waste in rural area for composting purpose

also be very important aspects influents the efficient of composting. Up to now, almost

of the waste in rural areas of Vietnam are released freely to environment. Building a

consciousness of environmental protection for rural habitants and encouraging them

prefer using organic fertilizer rather than chemical fertilizer seems to be difficult. But

it does not mean that cannot do. With large system of agricultural extensions, mass

media and training centers, the extension staffs, collaborate with composting factories’

staffs and technicians, can deliver the knowledge and technique to farmers through

field demonstrations.


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IV. CONCLUSION

In past 20 years, Vietnam has a vast development in all sectors: modernization,

industrialization, urbanization. According to some official statistics, during this time,

industrial products annually grow at 10 – 15 %, agricultural products increase 4 – 5 %

per year, commerce and service has a growth rate of 15 % annually, urbanization

velocity reaches 3.4 % per year and urbanization rate is 30 % in 2011. Accompany

with these developments, solid waste released into environment reaches over 15

million tons in 2005 and has increased with the rate of 10 % per year. Of which, 50 %

comes from urban areas, and other 50 % comes from rural areas; 80 % comes from

households, restaurants, markets…. These are huge sources for composting.

Composting is a good solution to solve the environmental pollutions cause of

municipal and agricultural solid waste. It has a large potential of reducing and reusing

the amount of waste, maintaining soil fertility and protecting air and water body

quality. Added in ASC technique, we can witness a significantly reduce of solid waste;

include toxic metal and other pollutants.

Composting, therefore, plays a remarkable role in sustainable development process,

especially in developing countries, such as Vietnam.

V. RECOMMENDATION

To enhance organic fertilizers application, government, producers and agricultural

scientists and technicians should work together. Government should play the key –

role in supporting the products and producers, protect environment and human health.

Producers should speed up their producing and marketing process. Agricultural

scientists and technicians should be pioneers in refining, transferring techniques and

science’s knowledge to farmers.

Generally, it is needed to synchronize the activities of 4 factors: Government,

Producers and businessmen, Scientists and Farmers, direct to the purpose of a

sustainable development in all sectors of the economy.


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APPENDIX

Appendix 1. A new compost factory using modern technique comes from USA in Ho

Chi Minh City, the biggest city of Vietnam.

Appendix 2. Some products of Seraphin technology.

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Appendix 3. Waste released in Vietnam in 2003

Source Components Quantity (tons/year)

Municipal

waste

Commercial

zones,

inhabitant

zones

Organic mat.,

plastic, paper,

glass….

6,400,000 6,400,000 2,800,000

Non-

toxically

industrial

waste

Industrial

enterprises Metal, wood 1,740,000 770,000 2,510,000

Toxically

industrial

waste

Industrial

enterprises

Oil, petrol,

sludge, organic

waste

126,000 2,400 128,000

Toxically

medical

waste

Hospitals Cylan, blood

samples... 126,000 2400 21,500

Total non – agricultural waste 8,266,000 7,172,400 1,545,900

Agriculture Culture,

feeding

Garbage,

excrements… - 6,456,000 6,456,000

(Reference: Vietnam current situation in environment report, 2002; Ministry of Health

care, 2004; Department of Environment, 1999; Ministry of Industry, 2002 – 2003)

Appendix 4. Municipal waste classification

Per capita waste

(kg/person/day)

Rate % Organic content ( % )

Urban areas 0.7 50 55

Ho Chi Minh City 1.3 9

Ha Noi 1.0 6

Da Nang 0.9 2

Rural areas 0.3 50 60 - 65

(Reference: Survey of advisory group, 2004; Department of Environmental Protection,

Ministry of Industry, 2002 -2003)

.


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Appendix 5. Course activities

composting in vietnam: present and future vision

Documents

friendly fertilizer

organic fertilizer application

friendly fertilizer

compost fertilizer application

source of organic fertilizer

individual final report

composting techniques

training course