Status and solutions to reduce waste pollution at restaurants in Hoan Kiem district

I. Introduction and the aims of the research

Good morning lady and gentlemen! We are students from Viet Duc high school in Hanoi. We are so proud of being a child in the family of Viet Duc high school which has long tradition of history and development. In these years, generation from generation in our school hasn’t stopped trying, practicing and improving ourselves.

We are now studying an issue which draws lots of attention from human beings. It is environment pollution and the fight against global climate change. As we all know, our beloved green planet is being destroyed seriously because of pollution, resources depletion, especially global warming, resulting to sudden changes in climate and extremely severe consequences in many parts of the world.

The topic that our group determinedly discusses is: “Status and solutions to reduce waste pollution at restaurants in Hoan Kiem district”.  

     We are present at a really renowned restaurant in Hanoi, a unique cuisine address named Quan An Ngon,

18 Phan Boi Chau Street

. Now, let’s go inside with me and meet its manager.

II. Restaurant Introduction

            According to the manager, Quan An Ngon 18 Phan Boi Chau Street not only gathers specialties of three regions but also impresses the customers by its special display. The old garden has been arranged and re-decorated in a pure Vietnamese style, giving diners a sense of eating in a traditional market crowded with dozens of dishes from all regions of the country. Hanoi lovers, nostalgic people, even young generations and foreigners can not forget this cuisine restaurant. There are people coming to Quan An Ngon to search for old memories, others to discover the three regions’ food culture or simply, taste traditional dishes gloatingly. Gourmets and foreign tourists are even ready for making a queue and waiting for their turn to be served with their favorite dishes. Many people have come here for several times and then introduce to their friends this address.

             Quan An Ngon 18 Phan Boi Chau Street is the only address to reach one of the top 5 special and tasty restaurants in Viet Nam, voted by the Miele Guide Magazine of Singapore on October, the 8^th, 2010. This is the contest whose contestants are selected from the best restaurant list in Asia voted by leading food and beverage experts.

            Simple dishes but “food brands” of all regions in Vietnam are carefully selected to serve here. All the quintessence of Hanoi cuisine converges at Quan An Ngon. It serves the same dishes street vendors sell: the shellfish soup and vermicelli, noodles and grilled meat, crab rolls, spring roll, flan and pan cakes. Of special note are dishes from the central region and the south: Hue beep noodle soup, Hue pancakes, fine rice vermicelli, grilled shrimp paste, and grilled meat roll.

III. Pollution problems caused by the restaurant

          As far as we know, there are always a huge number of dirty dishes needing to be washed every minute in crowded restaurants and Quan An Ngon has no exception. In order to wash up an enormous number of dishes, employees have to use lots of detergents which damage badly to the environment and contaminate the soil. Moreover, the amount of garbage and wastewater is very high. Garbage, in general, consists of pollutants in different forms which are toxic and extremely dangerous when not carefully-treated before discarding into the environment. Therefore, garbage should be classified and treated properly.

Detailed status at Quan An Ngon

18 Phan Boi Chau Street

:

-         The number of bowls and dishes is very large because the restaurant serves all day, with three main meals for a huge number of customers. Washing happens in a narrow section and close to the cooking area. Finished dishes collected from tables are washed quickly at different sinks with lots of detergents.

-         Looking at the sinks, we can easily realize that the majority of wastewater has black or milky color, bubbly and smelly and doesn’t reach prescribed standards.

-         Wastewater from the cooking area flows through the garbage fenders, and then the greases separation section, garbage hole and run into the sewer. However, it can be seen that the garbage fenders’ size is too sparse to filter as required standards.

-         The amount of garbage one day from a restaurant is very large and importantly, it isn’t classified into trash bags.

-         The restaurant doesn’t have a suitable waste treatment system to ensure the garbage quality before discarding into the common sewers of the city.

IV. Solutions

1. Proposed solutions for all restaurants.

-         Carrying out media campaigns, radio programs, delivering leaflets and posters to manufacturing bases and restaurants is a need.

-         Business units should invest money for saving the environment.

-         They should build up prescribed waste treatment system and shouldn’t discard untreated garbage into the environment.

2. Proposed plans for Quan An Ngon

1. Physical treatment method:

Wastewater consists of insoluble elements in suspended form. To split these elements up, people often use mechanical methods such as filtering through garbage fender or trash screen. Then, sediment is made by gravity or centrifugal force.

+ Garbage fender:

Before the wastewater of the restaurant runs into the treatment system, it flows through garbage fender. Here big sized rubbish such as rags, cans, or nilons will be retained. By doing so, the pipeline and channels do not get stuck. This is an important step to ensure safety and smooth processes for the whole system. However, the garbage fender should be re-made with smaller meshes.

+ Deposition sand:

Deposition sand tank is designed to separate insoluble inorganic impurities with the size ranging from 0.2 mm to 2mm from wastewater. Thus, the pipeline don’t get stuck by sand and the following process will happen smoothly.

+ Deposition tank:

It stores suspended sediment particles available in wastewater from tank 1 or those created from coagulation flocculation process or biological treatment process in tank

2. Limitation of detergents with high concentration of toxin

At present, there are new detergents with limited toxic elements available on the market. They are safer to the environment and less bubbly so that it can help for water saving.

3. Proposed steps for effective washing

-         Step 1: Using specific washing towels to wash away a part of leftovers and fat layers on dishes.

-         Step 2: Using hot water to wash dishes before washing again with cold water and detergents.

-         Step 3: Using new detergents with limited toxic and foaming elements and safe for the users and the environment.

V. Difficulties when applying these methods.

- Funding for building up a prescribed waste treament system is high, which not all the restaurants can afford.

- Finding detergents with limited toxic and foaming elements is hard because this issue hasn’t been widely researched and applied in Vietnam.

- If the restaurant has budget to construct deposition tanks and waste treatment system, it also takes time, which affects its daily business.

With the hope of contributing our little effort to the fight against environment pollution and global warming, we warmly welcome all the concerns and join-hands from all of you.