More and more people are choosing eco-friendly products; however, the Vietnamese market’s wide range of items labeled biodegradable leaves consumers lost in a maze when it comes to identifying truly green ones.

The absence of regulations on green product labeling to help differentiate biodegradable products from non-biodegradable ones is confusing customers.

Many products labeled 'biodegradable,' actually eco-unfriendly

As her daily consumption of plastic bags is high, Huong, who lives in Ha Dong District, Hanoi, has switched to biodegradable bags over the past months.

Upon researching the market, Huong seemed to get lost in a maze of various types and models with their packaging printed with words such as 'degradable bag,' 'biodegradable bag,' or 'biodegradable gloves.'

Believing the advertisements, she selects any product that is marketed as 'degradable.'

Yet once she read the information on how to distinguish between biodegradable products and partially-decomposed plastic products (OXO degradable plastic), Huong was startled by her misunderstanding that all products with 'degradable' or 'decomposable' tags are not all eco-friendly.

“I was shocked that many products labeled 'degradable' are still made from plastic that breaks down into small plastic particles and exists in the environment," said Huong.

“If so, it is like I am using plastic bags, paying more but still not protecting the environment. 

“I have no idea how to recognize truly biodegradable products due to no information or instructions on the packaging.”

As a supervising manager at a foreign company, Linh who resides in Tan Binh District, Ho Chi Minh City, said that her firm manufactures products labeled 'green energy,' so the company encourages its staff not to consume single-use plastic goods or plastic bags.

Therefore, most of the office furniture is replaced with reusable and eco-friendly packing and items.

With strict requirements, she carefully studied the products in the local market to opt for authentic ones.

She gained an insight into the 'degradable'-labeled products. Not all are green and eco-friendly.

“They seem to be the same, but those made from biodegradable plastic are capable of decomposing biologically, meaning that under the influence of microorganisms, the products will decompose into CO2, H2O or biomass which is truly renewable and eco-friendly,” Linh stated.

Vague advertisements and absence of labels 

To unlock an environmental conundrum, researchers invented biodegradable plastic to tackle the degradability of traditional plastic, which takes up to hundreds or thousands of years to decompose.

Meanwhile, it takes biodegradable plastic made of renewable materials only a few months or years to turn into CO2, H2O, or humus, which helps to reduce environmental pollution and cut CO2 emissions when burned by 25-30 percent.

However, Prof. Dr. Dang Kim Chi, president of the Science and Technology Council under the Vietnam Association for the Conservation of Nature and Environment, said that OXO degradable plastic and biodegradable plastic products have yet to be clearly distinguished.

Many products tagged 'biodegradable' make consumers mistakenly believe that OXO degradable plastic is also an eco-friendly green product. But in essence, it still decomposes and exists in the environment, resulting in negative influence on human health.

Hence, Chi said that manufacturers themselves must be responsible for the quality of the products labeled 'biodegradable' in order to accurately inform consumers.

Besides, there should be more transparent mechanisms and regulations to distinguish and help consumers straightforwardly recognize the eco-friendly green products with real degradability.

Speaking of the potential for biodegradable plastic development, Dr. Nguyen Le Thang Long, chairman of the Vietnam Eco-Friendly Product Manufacturers Association, said that plastic made from regenerative input materials and biodegradable products that replace traditional plastic products will help minimize the dependence on the irreplaceable source of materials.

In addition, this is an appropriate solution for Vietnam, since infrastructure for plastic collection and classification is not available. 

These products, however, also have a weakness. As their decomposition time is short at about 6-12 months, their shelf life will not be as long as conventional products.

If the products are out of date, they may be easily torn or brittle.

Meanwhile, their production cost is high, some 2-3 times higher than other products that are tagged 'degradable.'

As a result, there are not many enterprises producing them. Accordingly, it is not commonplace now.

The leader of An Phat Holdings, a well-known company in biodegradable product production, said that because residents are increasingly interested in the green consumption trend, evident rules and regulations are needed to help protect consumers and support companies.

An Phat Holdings is currently known as one of the few Vietnamese producers of biodegradable products meeting international standards.

This company’s product, named AnEco, is widely sold in Vietnam and 20 countries around the world, while making a big splash on the Amazon e-commerce platform in the United States.

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