The informal recycling sector plays a significant role in Vietnam’s plastic recycling landscape, particularly in Hanoi, which focuses primarily on recycling domestically generated plastic waste. Craft villages, often concentrated in specific areas or clusters based on their specialisation in plastic-related crafts, are integral to this sector. Much of the recycling activity in these villages relies on the plastic collected by waste scavengers.

To develop targeted interventions to address plastic pollution and leakage challenges in informal recycling facilities and craft villages, this study was conducted to assess the situation from an integrated configural analytical perspective. The study recognised that plastic pollution and leakage issues arise from a combination of factors, including technological availability and access, prevailing policies and regulatory regimes, institutional mechanisms, and access to various resources.

This report is published by the Regional Resource Centre for Asia and the Pacific (RRC.AP) of the Asian Institute of Technology (AIT) with support from ERIA's Regional Knowledge Centre for Marine Plastic Debris under the project "Development and Dissemination of Technical Guidelines for Plastics and Resin Pellets Leakage Prevention from Factories and Informal Recycling Sector in the ASEAN".