- About 80,000 tonnes of biodegradable plastics needed annually by 2025
- Vietnam’s plastics sector now focuses on effectiveness and sustainability
- Shopping chains have cut their use of single-use plastic bags and replaced them with environmentally friendly packaging
- Vietnam has adopted an ambitious roadmap to stop using disposable plastics at stores, markets and supermarkets in urban areas by 2021 and nationwide by 2025
The demand for biodegradable plastics in Vietnam is projected to reach 80,000 tonnes annually by 2025.
According to associate professor Le Hung Anh, director of the Institute of Environmental Science, Engineering and Management, the Southeast Asian country will require about 80,000 tonnes of biodegradable plastics—which can completely decompose into water, carbon dioxide and biomass under the impact of microorganisms—every year by 2025.
Le in a recent workshop added that the growth orientation of Vietnam’s plastics sector now focuses on effectiveness and sustainability, reported Vietnam News Agency.
Plastics companies like An Phat Bioplastics, Biostarch, and the Phu My Plastic Production JSC have successfully developed technologies for making biodegradable plastic bags, gloves, straws and utensils, among others, for consumption domestically and internationally.
Shopping chains such as Co.opmart, VinMart, Big C, Mega Market, and Lotte have cut their use of single-use plastic bags and replaced them with other environmentally friendly packaging.
At the same workshop, a representative from real estate firm An Phu Corp. said that in addition to growing plants around its residential areas and luxury apartment complexes, it has also begun using cloth bags or cartons to pack items for customers at supermarkets.
The average monthly volume of plastic bags at these supermarkets has fallen from 40 kilograms in 2018-2019 to just 2.5 kg in recent times.
Vietnam has adopted an ambitious roadmap to stop using disposable plastic at stores, markets and supermarkets in urban areas by 2021 and in the whole country by 2025, and to replace them with biodegradable materials.
Deputy Minister of Natural Resources and Environment Le Cong Thanh said Vietnam has issued a set of 17 criteria to assess biodegradable products and services, with qualified products receiving an eco-label and their producers obtaining a tariff elimination incentive.
