What direction for circular economy in Nghe An?
(Baonghean.vn) - Circular economy is a general development trend of the economy, in which all activities from design, production to service provision aim to reuse and minimize negative impacts on the environment.
The barriers
Circular economy is simply understood as the production cycle, waste is returned to become raw materials for production, thereby reducing all negative impacts on the environment, in order to protect the ecosystem and people's health.
Circular economy brings 4 benefits through maximizing resources, including saving resources, protecting the environment, promoting economic development, and social benefits. However, in reality, in Nghe An, theensure environment for economic developmentstill many shortcomings.
According to the plan, Nghe An has 10 industrial parks, of which 8/10 are under construction and operating, with a total of 130 enterprises, the average occupancy rate of the operating industrial parks is about 41.9%. Besides the industrial parks, the whole province also has 53 industrial parks with a total area of 1,273.06 hectares. However, to date, only 23 industrial parks have come into operation. These industrial parks have attracted 253 investment projects mainly in the fields of mineral processing, forestry products, knitting, mechanical processing, metal recycling, plastic product recycling and manufacturing, and packaging manufacturing.
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| Many industrial parks and industrial clusters in the area currently do not have a complete and synchronous waste treatment system. Photo: Tien Dong |
In fact, although there has been aIndustrial park and industrial cluster systemcovering the whole area, however, currently only 4/8 industrial parks have centralized wastewater treatment systems with a total designed treatment capacity of 11,950m3/day/night. Of the 23 operating industrial parks, only 10 have invested in centralized wastewater collection and treatment systems, of which only 8 have centralized wastewater treatment systems in operation.
According to the plan, all industrial parks must have a solid waste classification and transfer area. However, in reality, most industrial parks do not implement this item. This has caused many difficulties in solid waste management in industrial parks. Currently, facilities in industrial parks are contracting with competent units to collect and process.
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| Many industrial parks have wastewater treatment systems but they are almost non-functional. In the photo is the wastewater treatment tank of the Hong Ky Tower Industrial Park (Dien Chau). Photo: Tien Dong |
Data compiled in 2021 shows that the collection of hazardous waste in industrial production and service activities reached about 2,950.3 tons. In addition to the shortcomings in the wastewater treatment system, there are currently 10 industrial parks that have come into operation or expanded but have not yet received a decision approving the environmental impact assessment report from the competent authority; 13/23 industrial parks have not yet built a rainwater overflow collection system. Not to mention the fact that the industrial parks have not yet completed or built technical infrastructure.
The province currently has 35 establishments with large sources of emissions on the list of entities required to install automatic, continuous monitoring systems. Of these, 10 units must install automatic emission monitoring systems and 25 units must install automatic wastewater monitoring systems. However, to date, only 21/35 units have invested in installing automatic monitoring systems. In addition, there are 17 establishments causing environmental pollution and serious environmental pollution that have not been confirmed to have completed thorough treatment. Among them are 4 hospitals; 7 domestic waste dumps and 6 production and business establishments.
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| Nghe An is the locality given priority to implement the High-tech Forestry Zone Project in the North Central region. In the photo, the inspection team of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development and provincial leaders inspect the progress of the project. Photo: Phu Huong |
Need to implement synchronous solutions
In addition to the issue of environmental pollution, many opinions say that the current institutional framework for developing a circular economy is still incomplete. In addition, the business force - the core of the economy - is not yet aware of the need to transform the current production and business model to a circular economy. In particular, if applying a circular economy, it requires the classification and cleaning of waste before reuse and recycling, but because most businesses are small and want to save costs, they have not done so.
Mr. Nguyen Huu Mao - Deputy Director of the Department of Planning and Investment said that the Ministry of Planning and Investment is currently developing a project to develop a circular economy in Vietnam. However, to build a circular economy, it is necessary to build a clean economy. It is necessary to move towardsBuilding ecological industrial parks and clustersto reduce the use of raw materials, water, energy and toxic chemicals; minimize greenhouse gas emissions, economic, environmental and social risks. At the same time, improve competitiveness and profitability.
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| Currently, some newly built industrial parks in the area have met strict environmental standards. Photo: Nghe An Newspaper |
In addition, the most important thing is to issue standards and regulations to require units and enterprises when investing in industrial parks and industrial clusters to share utilities in industrial parks, share production materials; access new technology and green financial support mechanisms; improve health and safety for workers; increase the quality of life for the community. Implement the goal of state management of industrial activities and industrial parks in a sustainable direction, implementing international commitments on the environment.
When building industrial parks and industrial clusters, it is also necessary to set criteria for production, saving resources, using energy efficiently, producing cleaner products and creating conditions for building close links in production of enterprises in industrial parks. Minimize sources of pollution and waste, encourage the use of clean technology and environmentally friendly solutions. At the same time, build a clean business community that is competitive in the market.
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| TH Group is one of the units that has had a direction in building clean agriculture and ecological agriculture. Photo: Thu Huyen |
Mr. Mao also cited that although there is no overall policy framework and criteria for circular economy, in reality there have been many initiatives and projects following the circular economy model in many fields such as:Eco-industrial park, clean agriculture, ecological agriculture, organic agriculture... Some businesses such as TH Group have also proactively applied circular economy, right from the product design stage, businesses have taken into account waste design so that when disposed of, it can be easily applied to other production processes. Or like VSIP Industrial Park, WHA Industrial Zone 1 - Nghe An, although newly built, have also ensured strict environmental standards...
“It can be seen that, in the current context, when the circular economy has become a common trend, if any enterprise can grasp it to mobilize and transform itself in integration, that enterprise will maintain, promote its position and affirm its brand in the value chain” - Mr. Mao emphasized.