Vietnam builds first ever energy-generating waste plant

The construction of the first waste treatment facility to generate electricity from bio-waste started in Vietnam's capital Hanoi on Thursday. The Nam Son industrial waste treatment complex, which is located in Hanoi's Soc Son District, is the first of its kind in Vietnam, using Japan's incinerators with advanced technologies to turn the heat from industrial and hazardous garbage treatment process into electricity, reported local online newspaper Nhandan (the People). The system is capable of treating 75 tons of waste per day and can produce 1,930kW of thermal power. The project costs over 612 billion Vietnamese dong (29 million U.S. dollars) to build, of which over 472 billion Vietnamese dong (22.4 million U.S. dollars) came from non-refundable aid from Japan's New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization. The project will provide the electricity for the whole complex, which is one of the measures to deal with the glut of waste in Hanoi. Solid waste burial grounds may be reduced and the industrial waste in both Hanoi and neighboring provinces will be properly dealt with, said the Hanoi Urban Environment Company, the representatives of the owners of this project. The complex is expected to be put into operations in late 2014.