ThaiBev pledges to develop circular economy in Vietnam

ThaiBev booth at the Vietnam Circular Economy Forum 2023 last week

At the Vietnam Circular Economy Forum, 20 booths were arranged, introducing models and solutions promoting the circular economy towards environmental protection and sustainable development.

The world increasingly recognizes the importance of maximizing resource efficiency and transitioning to a circular economy. Applying circular economy principles throughout its value chain, ThaiBev, the largest food and beverage leader in ASEAN, has developed a closed-loop packaging collection system to create new recycling opportunities post-consumption.

This is considered as another way of increasing resource efficiency and reducing waste, especially with primary packaging materials such as glass, paper, aluminum cans, and PET bottles. Thai Beverage Recycle, a ThaiBev subsidiary, is dedicated to managing post-consumption packaging.

ThaiBev aims to achieve packaging circularity, considering all environmental as well as social impacts. The company integrates the circular economy concept into its entire packaging value chain, from design stage to post-consumption packaging management.

The key elements of ThaiBev's management approach towards packaging circularity are: optimization of packaging weight and volume; post-consumption packaging collection and sorting; reuse and recycle; innovation and product design for sustainable packaging; and stakeholder collaboration.

In 2017, ThaiBev acquired over 340 million shares, equivalent to 53.6 per cent of SABECO, at a unit price of VND320,000 (nearly $14).

“SABECO is our crown jewel – a rare asset among all brewing assets in the region,” said Charoen Sirivadhanabhakdi, chairman of ThaiBev in September last year.

ThaiBev and the subsidiary in Vietnam - SABECO has integrated the circular economy development strategy in the group's operations for many years.

The ThaiBev "Bring it back home" initiative is a cooperation project of ThaiBev with agents and distribution facilities to collect used beer and glass beverage bottles for reuse and recycling. This is a good opportunity to control bottles and packaging materials after use, as well as utilize the company's logistics and distribution collection to mitigate the truck turnarounds with empty containers, and optimize the use of human resources and resources.

ThaiBev also has the Thailand Supply Chain initiative, founded by eight Thai businesses in Vietnam. The purpose of this initiative is to strengthen cooperation between Thai businesses in exchanging information, knowledge and experience through investment activities.

There are five groups in this initiative with the goal of protecting value in business management, sharing knowledge related to corporate law, finance and social responsibility, creating value through cooperation to enhance current performance such as joint sales, cross-training, or joint ventures.

In 2020, ThaiBev and its partners held the Thailand Sustainability Expo with the slogan of a "self-reliant and self-sufficient economy." To expand this network beyond the borders of Thailand and welcome more businesses in Southeast Asia, the Thailand Sustainability Expo. a manufacturing sustainability fair, was launched in 2022.

"We propose to build a Thailand-Vietnam supply chain network. The two countries have the potential to become leading countries in the circular economy in the region. To do this, both countries need collective and unified efforts," a representative of ThaiBev said.

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