A brighter future for carton waste in Vietnam
Tetra Pak, a Swedish food packaging and processing solutions provider, and Dong Tien Paper and Packaging Company has recently announced a 3.5 million euro investment to upgrade and expand its recycling capacity of used beverage paper boxes in Vietnam.
Tetra Pak will invest 1.2 million euros in the installation of a modern paper separation line with European technology at Dong Tien's paper recycling plant, which is expected to be completed in the fourth quarter of this year.
This modern technology for separating paper from milk cartons is expected to nearly double the recycling capacity in Dong Tien to 17,000 tons/year. It also allows the production of high quality recycled pulp, which is qualified for the production of commercially valuable paper products such as tissue paper, toilet paper, writing paper, thereby helping to increase the value of paper boxes and income for collectors.
Moving towards a low-carbon circular economy, Tetra Pak is working to use renewable materials and reduce emissions throughout its value chain. The goal of the company is to increase the rate of using recycled materials up to 100%. In particular, for large-scale and widespread collection and recycling of paper boxes, Tetra Pak is working with large retailers such as Mega Market to expand collection points of paper boxes in the community in big cities.
According to Mr. Tran Quang Trung - Chairman of Vietnam Dairy Association: "The government's new regulation related to the responsibility for recalling and recycling of packaging that is sold on the market will certainly bring many challenges for dairy manufacturers because it is heavily related to the classification, collection and recycling infrastructure, which is still very weak in Vietnam, therefore, we highly appreciate a passionate and experienced partner such as Tetra Pak who supports the construction of a recycling infrastructure and shares the responsibility of building a sustainable environment. The promotion of recycling will also help manufacturers build a friendly product image environmentally friendly in the eyes of partners and consumers, thereby increasing the competitiveness of products in the market."