Circular economy model: Stories from paper businesses.

Recycled paper production is the "key" to solving environmental problems

Paper production is said to be one of the industries that can have a negative impact on the environment. Meanwhile, sustainable development is inseparable from the goal of environmental protection. To solve this paradox, Lee & Man Vietnam chose to use recycled paper.

Mr. Patrick Chung – General Director of Lee & Man Vietnam – said: "We always try to reuse materials that can be reproduced to reduce pressure on the environment. at the same time, it saves costs".

According to data from the Vietnam Paper and Pulp Association, recycling 1 ton of paper saves up to 17 mature trees, 4,000 kWh of electricity, 270 liters of oil, 26 thousand liters of water and 3.5 m3 of land for landfill. Paper recycling saves 65% of the electricity needed to produce new paper, while reducing water pollution by 35% and environmental pollution by 74%. Currently, there are 2 main types of raw materials for paper production: waste paper and raw pulp (pulp made from wood). Normally, the process of producing paper from virgin pulp has to go through many stages, first the process of collecting wood or bamboo, then crushing, concentrating, dehydrating... This process consumes quite a lot of fuel. Meanwhile, instead of 1 ton of pulp, the method of producing paper from recycled paper can save many stages (exploitation, processing, transportation), so it will be more fuel-efficient.

According to Mr. Patrick Chung, on average, paper can be recycled up to 6 times before being thrown away. Therefore, not taking advantage of this "resource" is a waste as well as increasing the pollution burden on the environment. On the other hand, solid waste (impurities such as metals and plastics) processed during the paper recycling process will be resupplied to other manufacturing industries.

"With the use of more than 95% recycled paper, Lee & Man contributes to helping Vietnam reduce the exploitation of 24 million trees, save about 45.5 million m3 of water and about nearly 6 billion kWh of electricity. significantly contributing to reducing emissions and saving precious water resources," said Mr. Patrick Chung.

Technology investment - a sustainable direction

In fact, if you take advantage of recycled materials for production, businesses only solve part of the environmental problem. The rest depends heavily on the waste treatment system investment. Pursuing the goal of sustainable development, Lee & Man has actively invested in the development of modern production lines, with machinery and equipment mostly imported from Asia, Europe, etc Americas.

Especially in the stage of waste treatment, minimizing negative impacts on the environment, each year, the company spends more than millions of dollars on waste treatment, including production wastewater, solid waste, biogas, biomass, etc. With that funding, Lee & Man has invested in advanced wastewater and exhaust gas treatment technology with a 24-hour monitoring system. The data is continuously updated (on average every 5 minutes) and transmitted directly to the Department of Natural Resources and Environment of Hau Giang province to manage the quality of wastewater, Emissions are always controlled before being released into the environment. Currently, the internal wastewater treatment work is ensured by a 4-step treatment process. At present, we are continuing to improve odor treatment technology, and at the same time reinforce the closed system in the wastewater treatment process to build a more solid and modern plant, especially ensure that odors do not arise into the environment. In addition, the company also assigns an internal monitoring team to go around and inspect the factory every day with detection tools to ensure compliance with standards. Recognizing the important role of odor treatment in wastewater treatment, Lee & Man took the initiative to build an enhanced cooling system in the wastewater collection system.

Mr. Patrick Chung shared, in fact, Lee & Man also faced great environmental challenges like many other businesses when they first commissioned the factory in Hau Giang. That is a great lesson to help businesses self-adjust, consider and be careful in production, waste treatment, etc. So far, this system is almost complete. Even if there are targets in waste treatment, businesses have indicators that far exceed the requirements.

Mr. Patrick Chung – General Director of Lee & Man Vietnam – presented at the Circular Economy Development Seminar in the Decade 2020 - 2030 - Superior intersectoral growth model and transformation in design principles, using materials, taking place on the morning of September 12, in Hanoi

 

Towards a circular economy model

Waste, environmental pollution, waste of resources and depleted raw materials are a challenge for many economies. The circular economy is considered a solution that can help countries, including Vietnam, adapt in an environmentally friendly direction. Accordingly, the circular economy model focuses on the management and regeneration of raw materials in a closed circle to avoid creating waste.

TS. Nguyen Hoang Nam - Institute for Strategy, Natural Resources and Environment Policy - said: The circular economy model is assessed to bring economic benefits to the world of 4.5 trillion USD by 2030, in Europe alone, the economic benefits are about 600 billion USD/year, creating 580,000 jobs, reducing greenhouse gas emissions. In 2018, there were 34 countries promoting a circular economy with 118 typical models.

In Vietnam, the concept of the term "circular economy" has not been officially used, but concepts such as: Exploitation and economical use of resources; low consumption of raw materials and energy; less waste; use renewable energy; 3R; replace plastic bags; sustainable production and consumption; green supply chain; green consumption has been used. Some models have been applied in practice such as: in agriculture, the model of processing aquatic by-products creates Chitosan and SSE with a potential of 4.5 billion USD annually; in industry and construction there are cleaner production models; the eco-industrial park model in Ninh Binh, Can Tho, Da Nang helps save 6.5 million USD/year... Practice shows that the circular economy is the best way to break the long-standing relationship between economic growth and photos negatively affecting the environment.

Experts say that consumers are increasingly concerned about the environment. They are even willing to pay more for a product that is committed to having a positive impact on the environment. On the contrary, they will also "boycott", turn away from polluting businesses or have activities that affect the environment. Therefore, businesses must pay more attention to sustainable development actions for the community.

Therefore, the shift of the raw material market, moving from primary to secondary is an inevitable trend of manufacturing industries in the future. In particular, the paper industry, plastic industry, steel industry... are industries with many advantages for development. But above all, businesses must ensure environmental friendliness from input, output, to final emissions. Solving the problem of raw materials is only the first step. The environment is only ensured when businesses invest synchronously in all production processes. It is also the highest goal of the circular economy.