The plastic industry begins to solve the problem of “greening”

At the recent conference “Reducing carbon emissions in the cement, steel, and plastic manufacturing industries in Vietnam”, Ms. Huynh Thi My, General Secretary of the Vietnam Plastics Association (VPA) said that electricity consumption in the field of rubber and plastic has increased from 5.7 billion kWh in 2016 to 7.62 billion kWh in 2019.

With a large annual production output, the national program on economical and efficient use of energy for the period of 2019 – 2030 (VNEEP3) has set a goal to reduce the average energy consumption of the plastics industry from 18 – 22% in the period to 2025 and 21 – 24% in the period up to 2030.

To achieve the set targets as well as be in line with the industry’s energy consumption and development trends, the Ministry of Industry and Trade has directed the implementation of many activities to support enterprises to save energy.

However, from the surveys conducted, VPA said that currently, the level of compliance with regulations on energy consumption norms of plastic enterprises is still limited. Specifically, the rate of enterprises submitting reports is 50.56%, the rate of achieving energy consumption norms is 37.99%, and the rate of enterprises having plans to improve energy consumption efficiency is 22.47 %.

According to the Vietnam Plastics Association, the growth rate of the plastic industry will be about 8.4% from 2023 -2028. Currently, this industry is employing more than 250,000 workers, and more than 4,000 companies. The average plastic consumption of Vietnamese people is about 62kg/year and will increase higher as the GDP and population with middle-income increase.

The representative of Messe Dusseldorf Asia said that Vietnam is one of the countries with a huge amount of plastic emissions, but recently, this requires the Vietnamese plastic industry to look at the entire life cycle of plastic materials. Manufacturing processes that use fewer natural resources, emit less harmful gases, and products that can be reused over and over are encouraged more.

From January 1, 2024, the extended manufacturer liability fee applied to the group of plastic packaging will take effect. This regulation is aimed at an environmentally friendly plastic manufacturing industry, but it is also a challenge for businesses to comply.

Along with that, the recycling cost norm (Fs) will be decided by the Prime Minister at the end of 2023 so that manufacturers and importers of packaging can fulfill their responsibilities from 2024.

The determination of Fs will determine the implementation of the responsibilities of manufacturers and importers. This is one of the factors to determine the producer’s contribution to the Vietnam Environmental Protection Fund.

Currently, out of nearly 4,000 plastic enterprises across Vietnam, 90% are small and medium-sized enterprises with a turnover of less than VND 200 billion/year. Enterprises with revenue of over 200 billion VND/year only account for 8% and over 1,000 billion VND account for only 1.2%.

Source: NhipCauDauTu