The initiative will be carried out by the Packaging Recycling Organisation Vietnam (PRO Vietnam) in collaboration with Sweden-based food processing and packaging solutions company Tetra Pak and Circular Action.

Eliseo Barcas, Managing Director of Tetra Pak Vietnam, said evolving from the model of collecting cartons through informal waste collectors initiated by Tetra Pak in 2010, promoting collection of used beverage cartons for recycling has always been at the core of the company’s sustainability agenda.

What makes this pilot programme different from its previous projects lies in its partnership with PRO Vietnam and the use of digital solutions from Circular Action to manage carton collection, according to Barcas.

Pham Phu Ngoc Trai, Chairman of PRO Vietnam, said it has decided to jointly execute this project in the hope of introducing a new approach to the collection of used drink cartons for recycling which has been a challenging task in Vietnam.

It also intends to help improve income for informal waste collectors and accelerate the growth of circular economy in the country, Trai said.

It will raise awareness of the waste collectors and engage them in collecting cartons at source. They will not only gain profits from selling the used cartons to recyclers but also receive financial support from the programme based on the volume of the cartons they collect.

Three aggregators – Lagom, Tien Thanh Paper and VECA – have confirmed their participation in the initiative. The companies will purchase used beverage cartons from informal collectors and re-sell them to Dong Tien Paper Factory in Binh Duong where the cartons will be recycled into new products. More aggregators are expected to join the programme to increase the collection volume in the future.

In early 2022, Tetra Pak announced an investment worth 1.2 million EUR (over 1.19 million USD) to expand the beverage carton recycling capacity at Dong Tien Paper Factory from 9,000 tonnes per year to 17,000 tonnes per year. The installation of the machines is expected to complete in early 2023 for the project to begin in the second quarter of the same year./.

Source: VNA