Vietnam ESG Investor Conference 2023 marks the first ESG investment conference in Vietnam, focused on building a stronger ecosystem for sustainable finance and ESG investment.
Mr. Le Anh – Sustainability Director DUYTAN Plastic Recycling present the plastics recycling process
The key to Vietnam’s next stage of sustainable development is to move the industry out of the linear model. DUYTAN Plastic Recycling is very honored to join the program as an enterprise that takes Sustainable Development as a guideline in all activities.
Sector workshop 2.2: Circular Economy and Industry with Representative of CL2B, IKEA and DUYTAN Plastic Recycling
The two-day top-level ESG investment conference in Vietnam features insights from leading investors and companies, bringing together stakeholders to focus on high-yield, transparent investments that address the country’s societal, environmental, and economic needs. This event serves as a platform for participants to explore sustainable business opportunities as Vietnam embraces ESG principles in its global integration.
Thanks to #RaisePartners and #Vietcetera for co-hosting VIETNAM ESG INVESTOR CONFERENCE 2023 so that everyone can update trends, share deeply and usefully about best practices, and seize growth opportunities from #ESG.
On May 26, 2023, DUYTAN Plastic Recycling and the Vietnam Waste Recycling Association (VWRA) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to promote circular economy activities in Vietnam.
In the exciting atmosphere of the 2nd Anniversary Celebration, DUYTAN Plastic Recycling signed a Memorandum of Understanding to cooperate with the Association to establish common goals for the environment and society.
The cooperation relationship between DUYTAN Plastic Recycling and VWRA is an important step in promoting activities and implementing synchronous solutions to help Vietnam’s environmental industry affirm its position and meet the essential needs of the environment for environmental protection.
Along with the goal of building a circular economy, this cooperation also contributes to promoting the work of connecting with businesses and departments in monitoring the implementation of regulations on recycling, contributing ideas on the strategy of exporting scraps that are beneficial for economic development following the world’s development trend, and at the same time promoting domestic recycling activities.
As Vice President of the Vietnam Waste Recycling Association, DUYTAN Plastic Recycling will continue with the Executive Board to continue the journey with the mission of connecting and promoting the development of Vietnam’s recycling and the 3R (Reduce – Reuse – Recycle) as important solutions to help relieve pressure on public policy and finance in solid waste management and treatment, as well as promote the implementation of waste goals in a circular economy.
During its 2 years of establishment, VWRA has made great efforts to fulfill its roles and responsibilities and contribute to building a circular economy by reducing waste. The association is also a gathering place for environmental experts, waste recycling experts, and the community of people interested in waste recycling.
Specifically, VWRA has actively participated with the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, departments, agencies, and domestic and international organizations to connect and link production supply chains. Focusing on in-depth research into groups of solutions for research, development, and technology transfer in the direction of waste reduction, recycling, and reuse; solutions for international cooperation, public awareness raising, socialization; and investment development in the field of solid waste classification, collection, transportation, and treatment.
Up until now, after 2 years of operation, the Association has attracted the great attention of manufacturing and recycling businesses. Since then, the membership of the Association has increased in both quantity and quality.
Just imagine if 100 plastic bottles are discharged into the environment uncollected, they will cover at least one square meter, rendering the little space uncultivable or uninhabitable. The little space would multiply by a zillion times to 1,300 hectares in 2022 but for the establishment and operation of DUYTAN Plastic Recycling.
“We recycled some 1.3 billion plastic bottles in 2022, processed waste into plastic pellets of various types ready for manufacturing plastic products,” said Le Anh, Vice President for Sustainability at DUYTAN Plastic Recycling.
Huynh Ngoc Thach, managing director of the company, added that the accumulative amount of plastic waste recycled at the factory as of the end of 2022 had exceeded two billion bottles, equivalent to 14,000 tons of materials.
DUYTAN Plastic Recycling late last month inaugurated its VND1,600-billion recycling factory in the Mekong Delta province of Long An’s Duc Hoa District, which has a first-phase recycling capacity of 30,000 tons of plastic waste. Its capacity will soon double to 60,000 tons a year in the next phase before reaching 100,000 tons once in full steam.
The company is recycling plastic waste under modern bottle-to-bottle European technology. Recycling plastic bottles will give a new life to used plastic products, which will help not only reduce environmental pollution but also create new values, and serve as the final puzzle in the circular economy model, Anh said.
Plastic waste is sorted and cleaned for recycling
A pioneer in circular economy
The recycled plastic market in Vietnam is still in its infancy stage, with the number of recycling facilities few and far between. DUYTAN Plastic Recycling, with the first phase of its factory operational in Long An, has become the pioneer in the plastic recycling industry, according to Ho Duc Lam, chairman of the Vietnam Plastics Association.
Speaking at the inauguration of DUYTAN Plastic Recycling’s factory on April 21, Lam said: “DUYTAN Recycling is a pioneer, inspiring other companies to step into the recycled plastic market. This market is attracting the increasing participation of companies investing in new technology and manpower to meet stringent standards.”
The plastic recycling factory of DUYTAN Plastic Recycling being commissioned signals a new stage of the country’s recycling industry whose development will not only reduce the imported volume of plastic materials but also help minimize pollution caused by plastic waste. Statistics show only some 33% of plastic waste is recycled, while the remainder ends up in the ocean or landfills.
PRO Vietnam, an alliance grouping 22 members being major consumer goods companies, has since its inception four years ago made tremendous efforts to promote plastic waste collection and recycling, but the amount collected has remained modest.
In 2022, its members including many giants like Coca-Cola, FrieslandCampina Vietnam, Lavie, Mondelez Kinh Do, and Nestle Vietnam among others managed to collect over 3,000 tons of plastic waste for recycling, and at its recent annual conference, the alliance set the target to collect and recycle 13,000 tons of plastic waste in 2023. Such initial figures, though encouraging, are just a drop in the bucket given the huge amount of plastic materials imported into the country, estimated at over seven million tons annually.
But the menace to the environment can be gradually addressed given the commitment from the country’s leadership and the pioneering spirit of players like PRO Vietnam and DUYTAN Plastic Recycling.
The general picture in Vietnam in the years to come will be the transition to greenization with more and more companies adapting themselves to the circular economy. This model will not only help deal with the problem of environmental pollution but also create new values and widen the path for domestic companies to join the global value chain.
According to the circular economy development program approved by the Prime Minister in the middle of 2022, Vietnam will strive for highly ambitious targets in the next few years.
Specifically, by 2025, i.e. in only two years’ time, Vietnam targets to recycle and treat 85% of plastic waste, and reduce the amount of plastic waste ending up in the sea by half. This circular economy endeavor will, therefore, be a painstaking process, requiring strong commitment from all stakeholders, the Government, the business circle and the general public alike.
The Market Study for Vietnam: Plastics Circularity Opportunities and Barriers released in September 2021 by IFC and the World Bank shows that up to 2.62 million tons of plastic waste are disposed of per year. It was reported that Vietnam imported seven million tons of plastic materials worth US$11 billion in 2021, meaning the amount of plastic waste discharged into the environment accounted for more than one-third of the imported volume or a wasted value of materials at over US$3.5 billion.
Values for economy
Recycling has emerged as a main trend as the economy shifts to circularity.
Mr. Le Anh of DUYTAN Plastic Recycling explained that recycled plastic materials produced by the factory have won the confidence of many producers of fast-moving consumer goods in Vietnam like Unilever and La Vie who see the circular economy model is inevitable. DUYTAN Recycling has also shipped 4,200 tons of recycled plastic pellets to customers in 12 choosy markets including the U.S. and Europe where quality standards for FMCG are highly stringent.
“It is because DUYTAN Plastic Recycling supplies recycled materials meeting the highest quality standards for food packaging. Further, the hefty investment in the recycling factory can be considered the final, important piece of the puzzle for the circular economy model,” Anh said.
In order to have enough materials for recycling, the company has organized a wide network of stations responsible for collecting and sorting plastic waste. To date, DUYTAN Plastic Recycling has had some 100 such stations in the South. Anh said the company will organize around 2,000 stations in the future to ensure a sufficient supply of 100,000 tons of plastic waste a year.
Zero waste factory: No waste – No emission – No waste water
Such a network of collection stations when in full steam will create stable jobs for tens of thousands of people and also contribute greatly to the country’s drive to minimize environmental pollution caused by plastic waste.
Just imagine when DUYTAN Plastic Recycling reaches its full capacity of 100,000 tons of recycled plastic a year, the amount of plastic waste discharged into the environment will be reduced by 14 billion bottles, according to the calculation early on by Huynh Ngoc Thach, managing director of DUYTAN Plastic Recycling. And if the estimate of 100 bottles covering one square meter is accepted, that will mean 14,000 hectares of space will be made available for cultivation or habitation.
*Cre: The Saigon Times – An English edition of Kinh Te Sai Gon Online magazine
This is a trade fair entirely dedicated to the plastic recycling sector. Every year, the event attracts a large number of recyclers, machinery and equipment suppliers, raw material suppliers and compounds, waste management experts, and plastic industry associations worldwide.
HOI CHO HA LAN .cdr
In export activities, in addition to the US market, Europe is also an important market for DUYTAN Plastic Recycling to introduce high-quality rPET, rHDPE, and rPP and meet strict standards on food safety and environmental friendliness in Europe.
As a reputable recycled plastic manufacturer in Vietnam, DUYTAN Plastic Recycling is honored to participate in the event in order to receive many opportunities to introduce to international friends the high-standard recycled plastic products produced by modern recycled technology. Besides, the company also wants to connect with social organizations. From there, jointly build social programs with the main goal of supporting the development of plastic waste recycling and the transition to a circular economy.
On the occasion of the upcoming Vietnam Brand Day on April 20, On the morning of April 16, 2023, at the Theater Army – Ho Chi Minh City, a program to announce the list of “National Strong Brands in 2023” was held by the Association for Anti-Counterfeiting and Trademark Protection and live broadcast on HTV1.
♻️ This is also a source of strong spiritual encouragement for the Company to make more efforts, constantly striving for sustainable development. Since then, creating many new values by encouraging the use of environmentally friendly products and bringing the DUYTAN Plastic Recycling brand closer to consumers.
DUYTAN Plastic Recycling Company inaugurates phase 1 of its factory with a production capacity of up to 30,000 tons a year in Duc Hoa District, Long An Province on April 20th, 2023.
DUYTAN Plastic Recycling Company started construction in June 2019 on an area of 65,000 square meters at the Duc Hoa Ha Plastic Industrial Zone in Long An Province, with a capacity of 100,000 tons a year upon completion. With modern production lines imported from Europe, in addition to ISO standards for management systems, the company’s products meet the standards of the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and international certification from the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA). This is evidence of the quality of recycled plastic pellets that do not contain harmful substances and are safe for human health, suitable for producing food-contact products, including drinking water.
DUYTAN Plastic Recycling Company is currently the first factory in Vietnam to successfully apply the “Bottle to Bottle” recycling technology model – each used plastic bottle will be recycled into plastic pellets, creating a new plastic bottle loop to reduce the use of fossil fuels.
In 2022, the factory recycled over 1.3 billion plastic bottles collected domestically. The number of plastic bottles processed for recycling not only provided raw materials for large FMCG partner companies in Vietnam but also enabled the company to export 4,200 tons to 12 countries, including the United States and Europe.
Former President Truong Tan Sang attends the ribbon cutting ceremony
Currently, the factory has a production capacity of 30,000 tons of plastic per year, and phase 2 will increase the processing capacity to 60,000 tons of plastic per year, equivalent to 4 billion plastic bottles to be recycled.
The factory is operated based on the THREE-NO criteria in the production process: Zero Waste – Zero Emission – Zero Waste Water. Applying these three criteria not only helps the company promote environmentally friendly production but also pays more attention to reusing energy sources in production.
Completion of the factory construction is considered an important step for DUYTAN Plastic Recycling Company in organizing collection, recycling, and producing high-quality recycled plastic pellets for the market. From there, the circular economy model in plastic waste management will gradually be improved, minimizing the impact on the environment, towards a green economy and encouraging businesses to increase the use of recycled plastic in packaging production.
Along with the development, material and spiritual life has been greatly improved but there have been the drawbacks of economic growth: ecological imbalance, climate change, pollution in urban areas, negative untreated waste. Mankind’s evolution in general and the prosperity of a country cannot only be measured by economic achievements but also the social sustainability, the environmental and ecological balance.
Sustainable development is a very broad topic, involving many social, economic, human issues. After the “net-zero” commitment by 2050 by the Vietnamese government at COP-26 and new generation free trade agreements, the topic of sustainable development has got more attentions.
To promote sustainable business models and celebrate pioneering mindsets, Forbes Vietnam will organize Sustainability Leaders’ Summit under the theme Towards a Greener World. This forum will bring together experts and leaders from leading companies to discuss the most important topics such as carbon emissions reduction, waste treatment, fight against climate change while sustaining growth and prosperity.
♻️ At the discussion session on Plastic waste treatment, besides major speakers such as: Mr. Leonardo Garcia – CEO of Coca Cola Vietnam & Cambodia; Ms. Tran Phuong Nga – CEO of Thien Long, Mr. Romain Vidal – Digital Business Director, Decathlon Vietnam; with the coordination of Ms. Do Thi Thanh Huyen, founder of Gaia Nature Conservation. Representative of DUYTAN Plastic Recycling, Mr. Lê Anh – Sustainability Director, shared about how the Company does the best practices in an effort to reduce plastic waste and promote consumption of recycled packaging.
Mr. Le Anh – Sustainability Director of DUYTAN Recycling
On the morning of April 2, in Tuy Hoa, Phu Yen province, DUYTAN Plastic Recycling is honored to participate in the 7th Forum “Managers – Journalists – Enterprises with Natural Resources and Environment” with the theme “Green Transformation”.
Talking at the speech, DUYTAN Plastic Recycling had an introduction about the activities that the Company has been aiming for in the implementation of the National Strategy on Climate Change to 2025. Thereby, confirming that green transformation plays a key role in the long-term development strategy and is seen as an important factor in addition to other traditional factors such as cost and product quality. With the mission of “Contributing to reduce environmental pollution from plastic waste in Vietnam”, DTR’s business activities are considered as environmental activities.
With the main goal of joining hands to carry out national activities on green production and consumption, DUYTAN Plastic Recycling is extremely honored and willing to accompany the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment on the path of building and applying a sustainable economic model.
Ho Chi Minh City, March 14, 2023 – Unilever Vietnam and DUYTAN Recycling held the event “Partnership Signing Ceremony to drive Plastic Collection and Recycling” towards Circular Economy.
The partnership demonstrates the commitment and determination to realize the goal of a leading consumer goods corporation in Vietnam to increase post-consumer recycled plastic (PCR) and reduce virgin plastic in production, increase the packaging recyclability, as well as collect and process more than plastic packaging sold on the market. Those aim to turn plastic waste into a useful renewable resource for economic and daily use purposes, and reduce the harm to the natural environment.
Partnership towards environment and society
According to the Market Study for Vietnam: Plastics Circularity Opportunities and Barriers conducted by IFC and the World Bank, as much as 2.62 million tonnes of plastics are disposed of per year, that is, not recycled, resulting in the loss of 75 percent of the material value of plastics, which is equivalent to US$2.2 billion to US$2.9 billion per year. The recycling industry in Vietnam has a diverse but undeveloped source of recyclable materials while the plastic recycling rate is only 33 percent. The main reason is that the demand for post-consumer recycled plastic (PCR) is not high enough because using virgin plastic is more convenient and cost-efficient.
Therefore, the quality of PCR plastic is always a challenge for corporations that apply international standards to their products like Unilever. This is also a “bottleneck” in driving the circular economy for plastic in Vietnam.
The partnership between Unilever Vietnam and Duy Tan Recycling is a step forward in promoting the use of recycled plastic in Unilever’s packaging production, thereby increasing recycling activities and creating a cycle for plastic waste in Vietnam.
This model will be brought into life from establishing a system of plastic waste segregation at source and collection, then leveraging the expertise and technology of Duy Tan Recycling to optimize the plastic waste collected through recycling and recycled plastic particles production to serve the packaging production of Unilever Vietnam.
Bearing a strong commitment, close-knit collaboration, and a firm action plan, the 5-year partnership between Unilever Vietnam and Duy Tan Recycling aims to collect and recycle 30,000 tons of plastic waste by 2027.
Along with the goal of building a plastic cycle to protect the environment, this partnership also contributes to implementing social commitments by improving working conditions, hygiene and health; providing training to increase the awareness and capability, enhancing livelihoods and social safety for waste collectors at more than 100 collection stations in the value chain of Duy Tan Recycling. This workforce is considered vulnerable and under-represented when the majority of them are women and almost stay out of the social safety net.
Additionally, Unilever Vietnam and Duy Tan Recycling also conduct communications and education programs to raise people’s awareness about environmental protection through the habit of sorting waste at households. This will help create stronger and wider impact across the country.
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
Vietnam’s consumer goods market is gradually developing in depth. Today’s consumers attach importance not only to basic factors such as quality, durability, and price, but also to factors such as origin information, products with quality certification, and especially products with a low negative impact on the environment.
Proud to be a pioneer in the recycling field in Vietnam, DTR is honored to be one of the businesses shortlisted for the Vietnamese High-Quality Goods Award 2023, which is voted on by consumers. With the goal of bringing customers quality products and meeting international standards, each production stage of DTR is automated on the world’s most modern European recycling technology line. In addition, to demonstrate the core values of “prestige – quality – creativity”, DTR is now the first enterprise in Vietnam to successfully apply the recycling technology “Bottle to Bottle”—each used plastic bottle will be recycled into plastic beads with the aim of creating a new plastic bottle loop. From there, the company not only wants to bring consumers high-quality products but also focuses on creating values that contribute to the environment and its commitment to society.
The announcement ceremony of the Vietnamese High-Quality Goods Award 2023 has the theme “27 years of Vietnamese High-Quality Goods: Journey towards a green economy”. Join us to visit Duy Tan Plastic Recycling product booth on the evening of March 14, 2023, at Thong Nhat Hall, 135 Nam Ky Khoi Nghia, Ben Thanh Ward, District 1, HCMC.
Website: duytanrecycling.com
Hotline: (+84-27) 2377 992
