Around $8-9 bln needed to address plastic waste in next five years
The funding amount was released at a conference on reviewing the implementation of the National Plastic Action Partnership (NPAP) held in Hanoi on July 9.
UNDP Resident Representative in Vietnam Ramla Khalidi, as quoted by the Government News, said at the conference that since its launch in 2020, the NPAP program has connected over 200 organizations and supported more than 160 plastic pollution reduction projects. The initiative has promoted over 570 innovative solutions and mobilized more than $1 million in total investment.
Ms. Khalidi affirmed that, as the lead agency for the NPAP program in Vietnam, UNDP vows to advance this multi-stakeholder and multilateral partnership platform and support the activities of the partnership group in the second half of 2025 to realize Vietnam's commitments to reducing plastic waste and plastic pollution.
At the conference, the NPAP Policy Technical Working Group made a debut, which is designed to promote alignment across legal frameworks related to plastic action and circularity. The group brings together 15 members, including policymakers, businesses, researchers, and development partners.
Mr. Ho Kien Trung, Deputy Director of the Department of Environment, the Ministry of Agriculture and Environment, and Head of the NPAP Policy Technical Working Group in Vietnam, stated that in the coming period, the group will work closely with NPAP's two existing technical working groups—innovation and finance, and gender equality and social inclusion—to strengthen an integrated and comprehensive approach to tackling plastic pollution in the country.
The group's activities aim to reinforce the necessary policy foundation for long-term, systemic change and contribute to Vietnam's commitment to building a sustainable circular plastic economy.