7. Assessment of household hazardous waste generation and management in Ninh Kieu ward, Can Tho city

Abstract

Household hazardous waste, despite accounting for a small proportion of the municipal waste stream, poses significant risks to public health and aquatic ecosystems due to its complex chemical composition. This study was conducted to evaluate the current status of household hazardous waste generation and management in Ninh Kieu district through random interviews with 120 households and actual waste sampling from 20 households over 15 days. The results indicated that the average household hazardous waste generation rate was 3.56 g/capita/day. The waste composition was diverse, consisting of 14 categories, among which insecticide sprays (28 %), electronic equipment (17 %), and used oil containers (17 %) were the dominant components by weight. Regarding disposal behavior, while 69 % of residents reported never discharging household hazardous waste directly into the environment, a small group (5 %) maintained this practice frequently. The centralized collection system reached 82 % of households at a frequent or higher level, whereas approximately 5 % of households rarely or never accessed this service. Informal collection via scrap dealers (waste pickers) was prevalent, with 65 % of households choosing this method frequently. Concerning on-site treatment, practices such as burying (4 %) and burning (6 %) were still conducted frequently by a segment of the population, posing potential environmental contamination risks. In contrast, awareness of using designated collection points was high: 94 % of households used them regularly. The study proposes establishing fixed drop-off centers and dedicated collection routes to optimize waste management and ensure sustainable environmental protection.