In Dong Nai, many companies (mainly the ones of the foreign-invested sector) are adopting this new economic model. The circular economy model showed positive effects, both economically and environmentally.
General Director of Ajinomoto Vietnam, Keiji Kaneko, said that after 27 years of operation in Vietnam, the company now has two production factories in Bien Hoa and Long Thanh with 5 distribution centers across the country with over 2,400 employees. The company has been implementing a number of specific activities in production and business to achieve three goals: zero emissions, efficient use of energy, and promote business activities based on biotechnology.
Due to its waste production (solid and liquid), Ajinomoto Vietnam has invested in a number of advanced waste and toxic gas treatment systems; simultaneously, the company also creates many supporting products that satisfy environmental standards and sustainable development of the Agricultural industry as a whole.
Non-baked bricks made from boiler sludge in the production of instant coffee at Nestlé Tri An factory, Amata Industrial Park, Ho Chi Minh City. Bien Hoa.
Specifically, with liquid waste (water), Ajinomoto Vietnam has invested more than 100 billion VND to build a centralized wastewater treatment system with a capacity of processing 3,400m3 of wastewater per day, which would deliver almost 85% of wastewater back to the reservoir(s) to cool the machines. In addition, according to statistics, by the end of 2017, more than 99% of the total volume of solid waste has been collected and recycled by the company. The wastes from the raw materials used in production of monosodium glutamate, powdered seasoning (cassava flour, sugarcane, bone, meat, ash, etc.) are reused as organic fertilizer and ingredients for livestock feed. With fertilizer alone, each year Ajinomoto Vietnam has produced and provided the market a large amount of liquid bio-fertilizer that has been used by farmers throughout the country. Since 2014, Ajinomoto Vietnam has put into operation a bio-boiler system using rice husk as a fuel to produce steam for production. The use of this boiler helps reduce more than 50% of harmful CO2 emissions into the environment.
Increased revenue from diverse products
As a company with strength in bio-technology, in the past few years, Vedan Vietnam Enterprise Corp.,Ltd has succeeded in recovering and recycling post-production materials as additive to livestock feed and organic fertilizer. Two of the many products made from recycled materials of Vedan Vietnam are honored for the Golden Agriculture Brand of Vietnam in 2017 as Vedagro organic fertilizer and Vedafeed animal feed additive (all in pellet form). Specifically, Vedafeed product (for cattle, poultry and fisheries) are by-products of molasses acquired after fermentation of cassava flour combined with some materials such as baked bones, more cassava flour.
According to the representative of Vedan Vietnam Enterprise Corp.,Ltd, the reduction of emissions, reuse and recycling enterprises have been implemented thoroughly to each workshop, room in the company and have brought about significant effects. With only the collection and condensation of the primary liquid after fermentation, every year Vedan Vietnam collects over 100,000 tons of recycled materials for fertilizer, animal feed and other high-grade products used in agriculture industry. Concerning the liquid waste, Vedan Vietnam has invested more than 30 million USD to build and operate a water treatment system with a capacity of 1,000m3/day and a denitrification with capacity of 3,500m3/day and night. According to the representative of the company, the application of circular economy in production and trade not only has brought economic benefits to the company, but also has contributed to environmental protection and helped push the development of agriculture. In particular, the continuous cycles use large amounts of Vietnamese agricultural products as the main ingredients and then collect the recyclable wastes and turn them into useful products for Agriculture Industry.
Self-sufficiency in terms of raw materials
Instead of hiring a post-production waste disposal unit, from 2014 until now, Nestlé Vietnam has been collecting waste and ash from the boiler for recycle. Accordingly, the waste sludge acquired from boiler will be given to an unit producing construction materials to make unbaked bricks. It is estimated that between 2014 and the end of the third quarter of 2018, there has been more than 2 million tons of waste has been collected and 5 million unbaked bricks has been produced. Along with waste sludge, Nestlé Vietnam has also collected coffee grounds as fuel for burning to both reduce CNG gas consumption and reduce CO2 emission to the environment. Next, the ashes of the coffee grounds after burning are gathered again with non-hazardous waste sludge used to produce organic fertilizer.
Apart from unbaked bricks, some of the waste in the production process of Nestlé Vietnam have also been recycled into useful and environmentally friendly products such as ash and sludge used for fertilizer production. Milk container is recycled into ecological roofing. Mr. Khuat Quang Hung, Head of Communications and External Relations of Nestlé, said that the company wants that, by the end of this year, all six factories of Nestlé Group in Vietnam on longer dump production waste into the environment and by the year 2025 100% of packaging shall be 100% recycled and reused . Besides the benefits to the economic and environmental, this process also helps the company to be self-sufficient in the packaging material.
B. Mai
