Capacity foundation
According to Ellen Macarthur Foundation, by 2040, a circular economy has the potential to reduce the annual volume of plastics entering our oceans by 80 percent, reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 25 percent, generate savings of USD 200 bn per year, and create 700,000 net additional jobs.
Leading in plastic waste management in Vietnam, Unilever has promoted a range of long-term and comprehensive action plans. In particular, reducing, innovating and circulating are three main actions driven by the business.
The company is committed to cutting down the amount of virgin plastic used in packaging production by half by 2025 – in which utilising PCR plastic is a key approach at Unilever Vietnam. The business aims to innovate, apply technology to ensure all packaging is recyclable, reusable or compostable. Meanwhile, Unilever Vietnam also circulates their plastic packaging through the plastic waste collection and treatment, then bringing it back to the manufacturing activities.
Unilever Vietnam has now achieved 82 percent plastic reduction, 73 percent packaging recyclability, and collected and processed more than 20,000 tons of plastic waste. The bottle packaging of many brands has also been applying PCR plastic. Typically, bottles of Sunlight, Lux and Love Beauty & Planet products use 100 percent PCR plastic; several other products have also applied PCR in packaging such as: Dove, Lifebuoy, Sunsilk, Comfort, OMO…
Bearing the mission of “Contributing to plastic pollution reduction in Vietnam”, Duy Tan Recycling conceived the idea and plan, studied the technology over the period from 2017-2018, then officially constructed a recycling plant in 2019. In 2020, the business conducted the equipment installation and trial production prior to bringing the plant into official operations since 2021.
The plant of Duy Tan Recycling is currently operating according to International Standards on Quality, Environment, Safety & Health, owning the production capacity of up to 100,000 tons per year. The company is applying the modern technology “Bottles to Bottles” – from an input plastic bottle, the business will process and produce recycled plastic particles to ensure physical and chemical conditions for food safety. These plastic particles will be blown into new plastic bottles.
With those strengths, this cooperation will create a great motivation to help complete the circular economy model in plastic waste management that Unilever is aiming for. This also helps inspire other think-alike businesses to increase PCR plastic use in packaging production, as well as asks for the Government’s instruction and suport to open up more development opportunities for the recycling industry, which contributes to spreading the circular economy model across the country.
Cre: Vietnam Economic News – MINISTRY OF INDUSTRY AND TRADE
