The lead recycling can bring high income and a comfortable life to Dong Mai village’s residents. 61 out of the 529 households with 500 members here have been living on the job.

However, due to the lack of reasonable production management methods and waste treatment equipments, the village has become seriously polluted with lead-contaminated dust and acid waste water.

According to the General Department of Environment, the lead content emission in Dong Mai is relatively high, with the lead content in water resources higher by 7.7-15 times than the allowed level, and the lead content in atmosphere by 4600 times. 100 percent of people who directly smelt lead have been contaminated with lead.

Ta Thi Tan, who was born and grew up in the Dong Mai village, understands well that local residents now face the serious pollution and diseases. Tan herself was trained to become a nurse; therefore, she understands well what consequences the lead smelting can bring to people.

Tan first thought about collecting fumes from lead smelting in 1991. However, at that time, she did not have production premises and did not have capital; therefore, she had to put off her investment plan. Later, in 2000, the engineers from the Vietnam Science and Technology Academy helped some households to smelt lead under a new method which was thought to help minimize the pollution. However, the SO2 and CO2 emissions could not be treated well as initially expected.

In 2003, after buying a land plot located far from the residential quarter, Tan began building a workshop and tried a new way of smelting lead. In 2004, Tan successfully built up a hearth smoke treatment system which allows taking back 100 percent of the fumes. However, this was just an initial achievement. In 2006, the woman once again successfully tried a fume treatment system.

The invention then led to Tan’s decision to set up the Ngoc Thien Company Ltd and invest in the system of treating waste in lead production. Lead-acid battery waste is considered a hazardous waste. However, if following the treatment process, people would take back both waste batteries and other products such as lead and plastics, thus allowing to reduce the exploitation of natural resources and extend the life of lead mines.

The waste treatment system of the company can satisfy the required standards which show high treatment efficiency. The waste water after the treatment process can be re-used, while the lead dust in the emissions can also be taken back, thus allowing to minimize the volume of pollutants discharged into the environment.

Assessing the technology utilized by Ngoc Thien Company, the scientists from the Hanoi University of Natural Sciences said that the technology is a useful solution that helps minimize the pollution and heighten the recycling efficiency.

The experiments show that the retrieval performance of recycled products – lead and plastics – is relatively high, at 77.7 percent and 100 percent, respectively. The suitability of the technology has also been affirmed, as the equipment used in the recycling process are cheap--just equal to 60-70 percent of the import products, while they are replaceable.

Especially, the scientists believe that the technology, while helping minimize the bad consequences to the environment, could bring the economic benefit worth 13 billion dong per annum. In a conclusion, the university said that the technology with many advantages can satisfy the requirements in technology, technique, economy which can be utilized in a large scale.

(VietNamNet Bridge)