Vietnam learns from Sweden
Vietnam learns from Sweden’s experience in developing low carbon circular
economy
Sweden’s experiences in developing a low carbon circular economy were shared
with the Vietnamese side during a seminar jointly held by the Swedish Embassy in
Vietnam and the Vietnamese Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment (MONRE)
in Hanoi on November 12.
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Swedish Ambassador to Vietnam Ann Mawe speaks at the seminar.
(Photo: Swedish Embassy) |
Addressing the event, Swedish Ambassador Ann Mawe said that as one of the
world’s leading sustainable development countries, Sweden is aiming towards a
zero-waste society.
Thanks to the people’s sense of environmental protection, the Government’s
encouragement and an effective waste collection system, Sweden has achieved much
progress in the “recycling revolution” over the past two decades, with the
proportion of households’ recycled waste increasing from 38% in 1975 to 99%
today, she stated.
The circular economy can be simply understood as “reducing, reusing and
recycling”, which means the transformation of consumption patterns, the diplomat
said, stressing Sweden’s willingness to share experience with Vietnam in the
field.
According to MONRE Deputy Minister Vo Tuan Nhan, the circular economy brings
many benefits to the nation, demonstrates its responsibility in solving global
challenges posed by environmental pollution and climate change, and improves the
competitiveness of the economy.
Recently, the Prime Minister assigned the MONRE to coordinate with some other
ministries and relevant agencies to research and design policies to encourage
the application of circular economic models in production and business
activities, he released.
At the seminar, delegates discussed and shared Vietnam’s policies and visions in
promoting the circular economy, the successful examples in Sweden and the
region, and how enterprises can access capital sources when implementing this
model.
One of Vietnam’s biggest obstacles in applying this model is the management of
the collection and recycling of waste resources, which are considered the input
materials in the circular economic model. Given that fact, participants
discussed and shared the waste collecting and recycling models of Sweden, as
well as the challenges and opportunities for waste recycling companies in
Vietnam.
They also emphasised the formation of a partnership between the public and
private sectors, which is a key condition for the low carbon circular economic
model to extensively develop in Vietnam.
Jeffrey Fielkow, CEO of Tetra Pak Vietnam, emphasised that the environmental
issues, such as climate change or waste, should not be considered individually,
but they need to be looked at as a unified whole. To address these issues, an
open circular economic model is required, which is not only a matter of
recycling and reuse, but also the calculation of carbon in raw materials and
production, to reduce the impacts of business activities on the environment.
Earlier, in June 2019, Tetra Pak (Sweden), the world’s leading food processing
and packaging solutions company, cooperated with eight other leading companies
in the field of consumer goods and packaging to establish the Packaging
Recycling Organisation Vietnam (PRO Vietnam), with the desire to promote the
circular economic model through the acceleration of the collection and recycling
of product packaging.
Source: NDO