Ho Chi Minh City Enforces Mandatory Waste Sorting; Households Pay Monthly Fines September

Ho Chi Minh City's municipal council passed a binding waste classification ordinance Wednesday afternoon, requiring all households and small businesses to separate garbage into four categories by September 1. The vote was 28-4 in favour, with two abstentions. Households that fail to comply face monthly fines starting at 300,000 Vietnamese dong (about US$12), escalating to 1 million dong for repeated violations. The ordinance applies to the city's 10.3 million residents and an estimated 85,000 small retail and food service operators.

The policy arrives as Vietnam's major cities struggle with landfill capacity. Ho Chi Minh City currently sends 27,000 tonnes of waste daily to four active landfills; the largest, Trang Bang in Tay Ninh province about 40 kilometres northwest, is projected to reach capacity by 2029. Hanoi began a voluntary household sorting programme in 2019 but has not mandated it. Da Nang introduced fines for non-compliance in 2023 but limited them to commercial establishments. Ho Chi Minh City's approach is the first mandatory residential scheme among Vietnam's three largest cities, making it a test case for central government waste policy nationwide.

What Residents Must Do

Starting September, households must separate waste into organic (food scraps, garden trimmings), paper and cardboard, plastics and metals, and hazardous materials (batteries, light bulbs, medicine). The city government says the policy will reduce landfill intake by an estimated 35 percent within two years. Collection services will change: the city's Saigon Urban Environment Company will deploy separate coloured bins to 2.8 million households during August, at no extra cost. Residents in apartment buildings will coordinate with building management to arrange collection days. Single-family home owners on regular municipal routes will receive new schedules by August 15. The city has allocated 45 billion dong from the 2026 budget to purchase and distribute bins.

Business owners operating restaurants, hotels, and markets face the same four-category requirement. The Ho Chi Minh City Chamber of Commerce estimates compliance costs at 2-5 million dong per establishment for bin purchases and staff training. Small vendors at wet markets will use communal sorting stations the city is building at 34 locations across all 24 districts. A market operator in District 5 told local media this week that she supports sorting but wanted clarity on which foods count as hazardous; the city environment department has published a 28-page classification guide with examples.

Enforcement and Next Steps

The city's environmental inspection agency will staff 312 new positions to monitor compliance. Inspectors will focus on apartment buildings and commercial zones during the first three months; single-family residences will face enforcement from December onward. The council voted to waive fines for the first month (September) to allow adjustment time. After that, residents can appeal fines to the district environmental office within 10 days. The city government says it expects 65 percent household participation by December 2026, rising to 85 percent by mid-2027.

The policy goes to the city's Party Committee for final approval on July 22. If approved, the city will launch a public education campaign in mid-August, distributing materials in Vietnamese, English, and Chinese through neighbourhood associations and building management offices. A pilot programme involving 8,000 households in Districts 1, 3, and 7 ran from January to June this year; participating households reported no cost increase and said sorting took about 10 minutes daily. That pilot data will inform adjustments to the enforcement timeline if needed, the council chair said Wednesday.