Vietnamese police are piloting the use of disposable blow pipes made of wood pulp and bamboo powder to measure drivers’ alcohol breath.

This piece of information was provided on December 23 by Colonel Do Thanh Binh, deputy director of the Traffic Police Department under the Ministry of Public Security.

The eco-friendly blow pipe is a hollow pipe about ten centimeters in length whose shape is similar to a standard plastic one.

“This product is easy to decompose and environmentally friendly," said Colonel Binh.

“So far, the trial program has showed that this type of pipe can meet standards on safety and return accurate alcohol content measurement results."

Binh said the Ministry of Health recommended that drivers should use their own blow pipes to prevent potential health risks.

“If plastic pipes are used, a large amount of plastic waste, which is difficult to decompose, will be discharged directly into the environment every year. So, the alternatives made of wood pulp or bamboo powder will solve this problem," Binh said.

In addition to that, given the goal set by the government that Vietnam will no longer use plastic disposables by 2025, the Traffic Police Department has coordinated some units to design single-use pipes, which can be produced domestically and cheaper than imports.

In the beginning phase of the pilot program, the Traffic Police Department has equipped seven squads of police who are on duty on the highways with 35,000 bamboo blow tubes.

After reviewing the results of the trial, the department will recommend expanding the usage nationwide.

In 2020, the traffic police have detected and dealt with 185,323 cases of alcohol-related offenses and 1,337 cases tested positive for drugs, up from 2,598 cases in 2019.

From December 15 to 21, there were 3,635 cases of alcohol violations handled by police nationwide.

This was only the first seven days in the accelerated campaign to crack down on traffic offenses on the verge of New Year, Lunar New Year, and other festivities in early 2021.

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