Industrial enterprises in the Mekong Delta have begun to practice cleaner production techniques as part of a program sponsored by the Danish International Development Agency (Danida), in an aim to protect the environment and reduce costs.
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| Workers package rice for export at Gentraco Company in Can Tho City. Cleaner production techniques have been practiced by rice companies in Vietnam. |
Cleaner Production (CP) is the continuous application of an integrated preventive environmental strategy applied to processes, products and services in order to increase eco-efficiency and reduce risks to humans and the environment.
CP requires enterprises to change attitudes, exercise responsible environmental management and evaluate technical options.
Cleaner Production in industry is one of Vietnam’s important strategies as it will help the Government reduce the burden of environmental management, prevent pollution, and help enterprises keep costs down and preserve materials and energy.
The Mekong Delta’s industrial development with emergence of hundreds of industrial parks and thousands of industrial companies has placed an environmental burden on the local administration.
CP in industry, with its economic and environmental benefits, has successfully been applied in the region during the past years.
Ben Tre Province, one of the program’s five target provinces, chose Thanh Vinh Coconut Processing Plant, which specializes in making coconut products including dried coconut slices, coconut oil, and cooking oil, in August 2008 to join the program.
The plant has implemented 15 solutions in two phases.
Solutions in the first phase included managing and monitoring consumption of steam effectively, re-locating steam valves to make it easier for workers to operate them, and upgrading lighting systems to be more efficient.
With the above-mentioned solutions, the plant has reduced the volume of water it uses by 1.7 cubic meters, wastewater by 1.7 cubic meters for every ton of product, and collected 50 kilograms of scrap copra (coconut flesh) per day to make by-products.
The plant has annually earned a profit of VND21 million (US$933) from using scrap copra.
These solutions have also helped the plant reduce waste by 45 kilograms per day, which equals to 90 percent of waste products created during the drying process.
In the second phase, the plant has adopted four solutions, including gathering all steam that is created during the production process for reuse, using coconut husks instead of rice husks to burn steam furnaces, building a wastewater treatment system, and upgrading its production facilities to ensure that they meat ISO 22000: 2005 standards.
As result, the plant’s products have satisfied quality standards, helping to increase competitiveness of Vietnamese coconut products on the world market.
The program needs to be expanded
Companies in Tra Vinh, Long An and Tien Giang provinces have begun to apply the CP techniques too.
However, the program financed by Danida will finish in 2011. Therefore, the Ministry of Industry and Trade has formulated a strategy on cleaner production until 2020. The strategy has been approved by the Prime Minister.
Tran Thanh Nghiep, vice chairman of the Soc Trang Province People’s Committee, said the province presently has about 7,000 industrial companies, while the figure was 5,888 in 2005.
The increase of industrial companies means the level of environmental pollution will soar, he added.
Mr. Nghiep said to protect the environment, companies have built wastewater treatment systems.
As present, the country has a very moderate number of enterprises practicing the CP techniques.
The five target provinces have had only 57 CP projects, and most of them concentrating on disseminating information, promoting the concept of CP, and raising awareness among industries and governmental agencies, training human resources, and building the national CP capacity.
The program has still faced many difficulties for producers haven’t been interested in the program, so they haven’t made any commitments.
In addition, there has been a lack of CP specialists for various industries, information on state-of-the-art technologies, and funds.
Nguyen Thi Lam Giang from the ministry’s Science and Technology department said CP is a solution involving process, system, continuity and initiative factors, while Vietnamese enterprises have been familiar with short-term solutions involving a sense of duty.
To encourage local enterprises to take part in the program, technical instructions on cleaner production have to be simplified, she added.
CP requires enterprises to change attitudes, exercise responsible environmental management and evaluate technical options.
Cleaner Production in industry is one of Vietnam’s important strategies as it will help the Government reduce the burden of environmental management, prevent pollution, and help enterprises keep costs down and preserve materials and energy.
The Mekong Delta’s industrial development with emergence of hundreds of industrial parks and thousands of industrial companies has placed an environmental burden on the local administration.
CP in industry, with its economic and environmental benefits, has successfully been applied in the region during the past years.
Ben Tre Province, one of the program’s five target provinces, chose Thanh Vinh Coconut Processing Plant, which specializes in making coconut products including dried coconut slices, coconut oil, and cooking oil, in August 2008 to join the program.
The plant has implemented 15 solutions in two phases.
Solutions in the first phase included managing and monitoring consumption of steam effectively, re-locating steam valves to make it easier for workers to operate them, and upgrading lighting systems to be more efficient.
With the above-mentioned solutions, the plant has reduced the volume of water it uses by 1.7 cubic meters, wastewater by 1.7 cubic meters for every ton of product, and collected 50 kilograms of scrap copra (coconut flesh) per day to make by-products.
The plant has annually earned a profit of VND21 million (US$933) from using scrap copra.
These solutions have also helped the plant reduce waste by 45 kilograms per day, which equals to 90 percent of waste products created during the drying process.
In the second phase, the plant has adopted four solutions, including gathering all steam that is created during the production process for reuse, using coconut husks instead of rice husks to burn steam furnaces, building a wastewater treatment system, and upgrading its production facilities to ensure that they meat ISO 22000: 2005 standards.
As result, the plant’s products have satisfied quality standards, helping to increase competitiveness of Vietnamese coconut products on the world market.
The program needs to be expanded
Companies in Tra Vinh, Long An and Tien Giang provinces have begun to apply the CP techniques too.
However, the program financed by Danida will finish in 2011. Therefore, the Ministry of Industry and Trade has formulated a strategy on cleaner production until 2020. The strategy has been approved by the Prime Minister.
Tran Thanh Nghiep, vice chairman of the Soc Trang Province People’s Committee, said the province presently has about 7,000 industrial companies, while the figure was 5,888 in 2005.
The increase of industrial companies means the level of environmental pollution will soar, he added.
Mr. Nghiep said to protect the environment, companies have built wastewater treatment systems.
As present, the country has a very moderate number of enterprises practicing the CP techniques.
The five target provinces have had only 57 CP projects, and most of them concentrating on disseminating information, promoting the concept of CP, and raising awareness among industries and governmental agencies, training human resources, and building the national CP capacity.
The program has still faced many difficulties for producers haven’t been interested in the program, so they haven’t made any commitments.
In addition, there has been a lack of CP specialists for various industries, information on state-of-the-art technologies, and funds.
Nguyen Thi Lam Giang from the ministry’s Science and Technology department said CP is a solution involving process, system, continuity and initiative factors, while Vietnamese enterprises have been familiar with short-term solutions involving a sense of duty.
To encourage local enterprises to take part in the program, technical instructions on cleaner production have to be simplified, she added.
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