Addressing the Political and Social Barriers to Reducing Marine Plastic Pollution in Ho Chi Minh City

Currently approximately 12 million tons of plastic enter our oceans annually. This global problem threatens wildlife, coastal ecologies, human health, and livelihoods. Therefore, we must reduce plastic pollution. This paper is concerned with the environmental governance of marine and riverine plastic pollution that emanates from Ho Chi Min City (HCMC), Vietnam’s largest city. Vietnam has been ranked the fourth-largest contributor of marine plastic pollution. The recent rapid expansion of its economy has been accompanied by a decline in the state of the marine environment and its ability to sustain essential ecosystem services, not least through the impact of plastic pollution. In this city of 10 million inhabitants there is no official recycling system. Consequently, the city discharges about 9,500 tonnes of domestic rubbish  into the environmental daily and its Saigon River is heavily polluted with plastic. The findings will be based on interviews with key actors and a survey of a riverine low-income community. This paper is the first to identify the political-economic and behavioural drivers of plastic pollution in HCMC. After identifying these drivers, I will propose solutions to address them.