Plastic Waste Management and Policy in the Fast Food Industry in Vietnam

The fast food industry (FFI) has been rapidly developing over the past few decades due to economic development and an increase in the "on the go" consumption culture. This industry consumes a considerable number of single-use items (SUIs), including single-use plastic items (SUPIs) and single-use paper items (SUPaIs), for the takeaway culture, which treats plastics as waste rather than a valuable resource. The frequent use of SUPIs leads to a significant amount of plastic waste ending up in the ocean. Within this context, Vietnam is one of the focus countries contributing considerably to plastic ocean (Akenji et al., 2019b). While regulations and policy interventions related to plastic packaging waste or SUPIs in the FFI have been limited, research into SUPIs in the FFI also has not been undertaken in Vietnam. This research aims to improve plastic waste management and the use and disposal of SUPIs in the FFI in Vietnam. First, the research reviewed intervention policies on the management of SUPIs in selected regions (the EU, Singapore, India, Indonesia) to recommend policy measures to manage plastic waste in the FFI in Vietnam. Second, this research determined the components and weight of SUPIs consumed and disposed of in the FFI in Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC), Vietnam. The results show that six fast food companies (Lotteria, KFC, Jollibee, Popeyes, Texas Chicken, and McDonald's) in HCMC generated approximately six tons of waste per day. Among them, SUPIs presented from 1.1 t/d to 2.2 t/d and SUPaIs were around 1.4 t/d to 1.6 t/d. Third, the research also surveyed 273 customers and 77 managers on their Knowledge, Attitude, and Practice (KAP) about the use and the disposal of SUPIs in the FFI in HCMC, with the results showing that the knowledge of customers and managers about the impacts of the use of SUPIs on the environment is positive but still limited. The next step, the research examined key stakeholders' choices on the recommended policy measures for SUPIs in the FFI, which were implicated from the first, second, and third objectives of the thesis. This fourth objective of the thesis was carried out by interviewing 37 people in five stakeholder groups (customers, restaurant managers in FFI, plastic manufacturers, and policymakers). Finally, the research also calculated the impacts of the two recommended policy interventions, including ceasing the use of the identified unnecessary SUPIs in the six studied FFCs and standardising the weight of each type of SUPI in the FFI. Consequently, the study is optimistic that by adopting the policy recommendations, a substantial amount of plastic waste which is currently being generated by the FFI and released into the environment each year will be prevented.