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Plastic producers want end to waste regulations
Plastic makers have asked the government to ease restrictions that protect the environment by capping plastic and industrial waste imports, arguing that a raw material shortage has made prices uncompetitive.
Plastic plants throughout the country need about 2 million tons of raw materials annually but only have access to 300,000 tons provided by local producers and importers, said Ho Duc Lam, vice chairman and secretary general of Vietnam Plastics Association (VPA), at a seminar in Ho Chi Minh City Saturday.
The association has complained that government restrictions of plastic waste imports, geared towards protecting the environment, have hurt their prices. It has officially asked the Ministry of Industry of Trade to ease the limitations.
Pham Trung Cang, chairman of the HCMC Plastic Association, said Vietnamese plastic export prices had been pushed 10 to 15 higher than their rivals by the supply gap.
He said anywhere from a third to half of the materials used for plastic production in China, India and Thailand were recycled materials, which help cut production costs.
Lam said local producers had been further injured by increasing global crude oil prices, which had pushed up material costs across the board.
Phan Van Thanh, chairman of VPA, said the criteria for importing plastic scraps were hard to meet because they required importers to have modern recycling technologies.
Thanh said local businesses’ inability to meet the criteria meant that an insufficient amount of industrial waste was shipped to the country for their needs.
The chairman said the government should require less from importers and allow them to make use of unfinished plastic products thrown away by plastic producers in other countries.
“If the government allows more plastic waste imports to meet about 35 or 50 percent of the country’s demand, the industry would save at least $780 million compared to last year,” said Cang, adding that prices would be 15 percent less than those currently offered by local exporters.
Total plastic waste imports currently stand at about 120,000-140,000 tons per year, accounting for less than 10 percent of the country’s demand.
An official from the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment who requested anonymity said he was against the proposal, arguing that plastic waste imports were already contributing too much to pollution and destruction of the environment.
He said the import of industrial waste must be strictly monitored and that only shipments meeting environmental requirements should be licensed.
Support
Vu Van Cuong, deputy head of the Light Industry Department at the Ministry of Industry of Trade said the ministry supported the proposal from local producers as it would help reduce costs for Vietnamese consumers and exporters.
Cuong said it was not good for local industry to depend entirely on plastic imports while local supply was far behind demand.
He said several local recycling plant projects had been stalled by site clearance problems.
Cuong also said that there might not be enough material available locally to feed the plants when and if they opened.
Dao Duy Kha, deputy general director of Vietnam Plastics Corporation (Vinaplast), said its joint venture with Canadian partner had found it difficult to run its two recycling plants due to a lack of plastic waste.
Cuong said the ministry would propose enlarging the list of industrial waste allowed into Vietnam.
Minh Quang
thanhnien
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