Firms urge State to promote paper recycling industry

he State should create favourable policies to encourage the collection of used paper in an aim to build a local recycling industry, paper industry officials have said.

At a seminar held yesterday, December 3, Vu Ngoc Bao, general secretary of the Viet Nam Pulp and Paper Association, said the State should draw up new regulations to develop a paper-recycling industry in the country.

Paper use in Viet Nam each year reaches more than 1.8 million tonnes, but the country can only provide 1.13 million tonnes, with the rest imported.

Of the total paper produced in the country, recycled paper and packages represent 70 per cent. Most of the used paper, which is made of imported and locally made paper, is collected by junk dealers and sanitary workers.

He added if more used paper was collected the country could reduce its volume of imported paper.

Bao said media and schools should include information and instruction on the environmental value of collecting and recycling paper.

Speaking at the seminar, Trivichak Yibyndham, managing director of Fiber Pattana Co Ltd in Thailand, said residents would be more willing to sort their rubbish if they were more aware of the benefits of recycling.

Tushar Shar, director of Daman Ganga Paper Mill in India, said that paper recycling could be an industry which brings profits for enterprises arid companies.

At the conference, Shar demonstrated how paper packages could be used to produce soft tissue and roofing sheets.

He said a recycling industry could contribute to environmental protection, provide jobs and reduce the amount of rubbish and energy consumption.

Tran Hanh Dung, environment director of Tetra Pak, which manufactures milk and drink packaging, said recycling paper packages had helped cut CO2 emissions at paper manufacturing plants.

Paper could be recycled six times before it is buried or destroyed, she said.

She said her company would buy machines and invite interested companies to visit paper-recycling mills in India and Thailand to learn about the industry.

VietNamNet/Viet Nam News

Tags: Vietnam paper recycling industry