ALBA and VietCycle to develop plastic recycling plant in Vietnam

ALBA Group Asia and VietCycle envisage developing a recycling plant with an estimated investment value of $50 million and annual capacity of up to 48,000 tonnes.

The project aims to avail of cutting-edge technology to produce food-grade PET/HDPE plastic with quality that is on par with the international standards set by the EU that are applied by many multinational corporations.

At the signing ceremony at Sofitel Legend Metropole Hotel in Hanoi, Hoang Van Thuc, director general of the Vietnam Environment Administration under the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, and Simon Kreye, Deputy Head of the German Embassy in Hanoi, welcomed the agreement as a significant contribution to Vietnam's anti-pollution efforts.

Addressing the ceremony, Axel Schweitzer, chairman and owner of ALBA Group Asia said, “Our vision is a zero-waste world. At the same time, with a holistic approach and through the use of digitalisation, we want to help sustainably improve the living and working conditions of scrap collectors. This project and the partnership with VietCycle are a big step towards realising this goal.”

In the words of ALBA Group Asia's leader, the project will contribute to urgent solutions to the growing plastic waste problem in the country. Moreover, it will create a significant number of green jobs and improve social security for many informal collectors.

“For me personally, this is just as important as the positive environmental impacts and economic success,” said Schweitzer.

The cooperation between ALBA and VietCycle is also geared towards the expansion of VietCycle's collection network.

Along with this, the two partners will work jointly to promote gender equality and social inclusion in the collection system, and the plastic recycling industry in general. This is also one of the main goals the partnership is aiming for.

“Teaming-up with ALBA helps us to realise our dream of revitalising plastic waste management by leveraging state-of-the art technology and creating sustainable and humane values,” said Hoang Duc Vuong, chairman of VietCycle.

In addition to a promising business partnership and significant contribution to Vietnam's efforts to combat climate change, the expansion of the collection network will promote ALBA and VietCycle's access to disadvantaged collectors and improve their lives by providing them with basic training and insurance benefits.

For this purpose, ALBA BERLIN Asia Academy – already operating in ten countries – will integrate training programmes into cooperation activities between the two sides.

According to World Bank figures, every year about 3 million tonnes of plastic waste is discharged on land in Vietnam and an estimated 0.28-0.73 million tonnes is discharged into the ocean. The situation is expected to worsen amidst the rapid urbanisation that comes with economic and population growth.

ALBA Group has a 50-year-plus track record in Europe and over 20 years in Asia in the waste management and recycling industry.

With a vision of a zero-waste world, the company focuses on four business areas including smart city solutions, plastics recycling, green gas and green fuel technology, and hazardous waste recycling and management.

VietCycle was founded in 2020 by a team of visionary leaders with more than 20 years of experience in waste collection and plastic recycling in Vietnam.

In 2022, VietCycle collected and sorted more than 16,000 tonnes of plastic waste from the four northern provinces of Hanoi, Bac Ninh, Hung Yen, and Vinh Phuc.

Coca-Cola to eliminate 2,000 tonnes of new plastic in Vietnam annually Coca-Cola Vietnam’s move to use fully-recycled PET plastic bottles is being deemed a meaningful step towards supporting a circular economy model for plastic packaging.

Unilever Vietnam to collect 12,000 tonnes of plastic waste Plastic waste segregation at source is critical in bringing plastic back to serve business activities while promoting the Circular Economy model in Vietnam. Collecting and processing more plastic waste than packaging sold in the market is also a commitment that Unilever needs to achieve by 2025.

Mainstreaming circular plastic plans The increased use of plastics has accompanied Vietnam’s fast economic growth over the last decade. With growing urbanisation and a rising middle class, the demand for plastics has grown rapidly in consumer packaging, construction, household goods, and automotive industries because of their convenience and versatility. In 2019, the plastic industry contributed about $17.5 billion to Vietnam’s economy, equivalent to 6.7 per cent of the country’s GDP.