Pioneering coalition of consumer goods and packaging industry contributes towardsa green, clean and beautiful Vietnam. (Photo credit: Coca-Cola Vietnam)
Coalition
Signing Ceremony for Packaging Recycling Organization Vietnam - PRO Vietnam
A coalition of nine leading companies from the consumer goods and packaging industry aims to contribute to a clean, green and beautiful Vietnam by driving the circular economy and making recycling of packaging more accessible and sustainable.
This is an important pillar in the 3R rule (Reduce – Reuse – Recycle). To this end, these nine companies have discussed, aligned and joined hands to organize a signing ceremony to launch the coalition Packaging Recycling Organization Vietnam (PRO Vietnam) in Ho Chi Minh City on June 21st, 2019
The nine founding members who have come forward with the initiative to form PRO Vietnam (in alphabetical order) are Coca-Cola Vietnam, FrieslandCampina, La Vie, Nestlé Vietnam, NutiFood, Suntory PepsiCo Vietnam, Tetra Pak Vietnam, TH Group and URC Vietnam. PRO Vietnam marks the first time that competing businesses are collaborating in Vietnam to collectively work on improving the environment of Vietnam.
As leading brands in Vietnam which interact with thousands of employees and millions of consumers, companies in this coalition understand that while packaging helps to solve one problem, they can contribute to another. This is especially so, where there is inadequate waste management and a lack of recycling infrastructure. When recycling is not done properly, the packaging becomes a wasted resource that our planet cannot sustain.
Municipal solid waste in Vietnam is forecasted to increase by 38% from 11.6 million tons in 2016 to 15.9 million tons in 2030. Vietnam is currently one of the 5 largest contributors globally to release plastic waste into the ocean, contributing 280,000 tons of plastic waste yearly. Trade data shows that Vietnam was until recently heavily reliant on imports of scrap plastic and paper as feedstock for its recycling industries. With the growth in waste generation, this challenge of packaging waste is likely to compound further without concerted public-private intervention. Thus there is a need to support the growth of a strong, resilient domestic packaging collection and recycling ecosystem which can increase recycling rates and reduce packaging leakage.
PRO Vietnam will work towards its ambition through 4 pillars of activities:
- Educating consumers on recycling awareness and segregation;
- Strengthening the existing packaging collection ecosystem;
- Supporting recycling programs of processors and recyclers; and
- PRO Vietnam will also work with government in the “Recycle” aspect of 3R (Reduce, Reuse and Recycle) and through its unique voluntary, public-private partnership aims to improve livelihood conditions and create jobs for individuals and businesses working on post-consumer packaging. Besides, PRO Vietnam will also coordinate with research centers of universities to find out the most suitable solutions for the environment of Vietnam.
Mr. Pham Phu Ngoc Trai, who is nominated to be the Chairman of PRO Vietnam, states, “We believe to sustain business growth we have to be committed to the society and the environment, contributing towards a clean, green and beautiful Vietnam.”
The founding members of PRO Vietnam unite towards a mission “The PRO Vietnam’s ambition is that, by 2030, all packaging material put into the market by its members shall be collected for recycling.”
PRO Vietnam was established thanks to the process of contributing ideas from the companies’ CEOs months ago with many meetings and received voluntary supports from many organizations including media such as VTV24, Vnexpress online newspaper and Facebook for digital media. PRO Vietnam is supported with technical advice from GA Circular, a non-profit social enterprise based in Singapore.
PRO Vietnam welcomes more companies and stakeholders in Vietnam to join this initiative. The fundamental principle of PRO Vietnam is that we believe if we all work together, on common recycling goals, we can achieve faster and better results than working independently.
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