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| Cleaner production measures have helped raise the reputation of enterprises |
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Thanks to applying cleaner production measures, the Vietnam Paper Corporation (VINAPACO) is no longer listed as polluting business and its competitiveness has been raised remarkably.
With its Phu Tho paper mill, the company is focused on producing writing, printed and photography paper. The firm has taken the initiative in growing thousand hectares of bamboo, producing 190 liters of chlorine per day and 21 tonnes of soda per year. In addition, it has produced natri hypochlorite to boil and bleach pulp and paper powder.
VINAPACO has responded to its environmental pollution, including exhaust fumes from boiling pulp and paper powder and waste water discharged into the environment. The use of water, electricity, coal and materials had also not been audited, leading to huge environmental damage and higher product prices.
Environmental pollution has affected workers' health and the surrounding environment, in addition to the firm's prestige. Many years ago, VINAPACO was listed as a unit responsible for causing pollution. To tackle this problem, since 2003, the company has taken the initiative in applying numerous cleaner production measures by investing VND149 billion in upgrading its bleach powder production line. As a result, chlorine use in bleach stage has reduced from 52-60 kg/one tonne of finished powder to 20 kg/one tonne of finished product. The company has renovated its bleach chemical production line while raising awareness among staff members on reducing the volume of chlorine that is leaking out to the environment.
To cope with the bad smell caused by pulp and paper production activity, the company has equipped a static electricity dust filter system. This system treats exhaust fumes from coal burning steam boilers with a capacity of more than 95 percent. Bad exhaust fumes have been considerably reduced. Besides exhaust fume treatment, the VINAPACO has invested VND100 billion in improving its waste water treatment system using advanced technology with design capacity of 30,000 m3/day. Therefore, VINAPACO's total waste water volume now meets national standards for the pulp and paper sector.
After implementing a series of cleaner production measures, since 2010, the company has started applying its inner scale measures into production activities such as turning off lights, electricity equipment and water when not in use; setting air conditioning at 25 degrees centigrade; reusing water, making use of cooling water to clean materials, mill and store water for fire fighting; and insulating steam pipe and heating equipment. In addition, 1,000 300W high pressure lamps, and 3,000 T10-40W florurescent bulbs have been replaced by 50W compact and T8 lamps which have saved VND1.6 billion a year. Electricity losses due to steam and high pressure gas leaks have been fixed which has reduced power consumption by 30 percent.
With these measures, in 2009, the Phu Tho Natural Resource and Environment Department certified that VINAPACO had implemented solid environmental pollution treatment measures in accordance with Decision 64 . It has helped the company reduce production costs and raised the company's reputation in the market.
Bao Ngoc
(VEN)