Environment

Tetra Pak has cooperated with MM Mega Market Vietnam to launch public drop-off stations for used beverage cartons at seven MM Mega Market centers in HCM City and Hanoi . (Photo: Tetra Pak ) HCM City (VNS/VNA) - Swedish food processing and packaging solutions provider Tetra Pak has cooperated with MM Mega Market Vietnam to launch public drop-off stations for collecting used beverage cartons at seven MM Mega Market centres in Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi in 2020. Consumers can take used beverage cartons to those public drop-off stations for recycling. Cartons are then collected periodically twice a month by Lagom and NHC – Tetra Pak’s partners – and transported to Dong Tien paper factory in Binh Duong povince for recycling. MM Mega Market is a large wholesaler and retailer in Vietnam with a network of 20 centres in 15 provinces and cities nationwide. MM Mega Market is known as a pioneer in environment protection with practical initiatives such as …

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Befine is making a significant contribution to society and protecting the environment. Photo courtesy of Befine Mai Phương and Hạ Thảo "Pursuing passion should accompany social responsibility" is the mantra of Dương Xuân Trường, a successful young entrepreneur from the central province of Thanh Hóa's Thạch Thành District. Wishing to raise the value of local herbs, Trường, 24, and his company, Befine, extract essential oils from local agricultural by-products, making a significant contribution to society and protecting the environment. "In parallel with business development, pursuing passion is a social responsibility. The products we produce and sell to the market should not only be safe for human health but also friendly to the environment," Trường said. During a visit to his hometown in Thạch Thành, he witnessed local farmers harvesting 500 hectares of lemongrass but they only took the roots. Other parts of the plant, particularly thousands of tonnes of leaves, were …

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Dr Lê Quỳnh Chi Urban regeneration, a process of improving buildings and land to reverse structural decline, is now in the limelight, taking a significant role in urban planning discussions and projects. In Việt Nam, urban regeneration remains a new concept. Việt Nam News talks about the issue with Lê Quỳnh Chi, who has a doctorate in urban planning at Tokyo University, Japan, and is vice-head of the Urban Planning Department at the National University of Civil Engineering in Hà Nội. Inner Sanctum: Could you please explain the concept of urban regeneration? Every city has pockets of underused and underutilised land or distressed and decaying urban areas. These pockets of underused land weaken the city’s image, livability and productivity. Urban regeneration is a complex process that tackles these aforementioned issues, usually requiring the collaboration of various stakeholders, including the public sector, private sector and NGOs. Young people join a dancing …

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An area in Viet Hung Ward, Long Bien District was put under lockdown yesterday after a suspected COVID-19 case was detected. VNA/VNS Photo HÀ NỘI — The daily increase of COVID-19 cases dropped below 10,000 on Saturday, more than 2,000 less than the previous day. The total number of new infections in the past 24 hours was 9,373 - the first time the figure fell below 10,000 in the past two weeks. The total number of cases seen in Việt Nam now stands at 677,023. Just 13 of the new infections were imported and the rest community transmissions. There were also 220 COVID-related deaths taking the total number of fatalities to 16,857, while 14,903 patients were given the all-clear, bringing the amount of recoveries to 448,368. HCM City recorded the highest number of infections with 4,237, followed by Bình Dương (2,877), Đồng Nai (939), Long An (236), Tiền Giang (197). The other cases were detected in Kiên Giang (168), An Giang (143), Đắk Lắk (91), Đắk Nông (70), …

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A fisherman on September 12 is tested after leaving his boat to enter Vàm Láng town in Tiền Giang Province’s Gò Công Đông District. VNA/VNS Photo Hữu Chí MEKONG DELTA — The Mekong Delta provinces of Tiền Giang and Đồng Tháp should continue anti-pandemic measures and focus on reducing the death rate from COVID-19, Deputy Prime Minister Vũ Đức Đam has told provincial authorities. Đam led a inspection team to Tiền Giang and Đồng Tháp provinces on Friday. At a meeting in Đồng Tháp, Đam said the province police should visit each house to ask members to fill out medical declarations and ask them if they had returned from COVID-19 hotspots. Preventing cross-transmission at quarantine facilities was also important, Đam said. In locked-down areas, rapid tests should be administered to detect COVID-19 patients quickly. The province also needs to prepare scenarios for a possible COVID-19 outbreak after re-opening, Đam said. People must follow the Ministry of …

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The new infections include 13 imported and 9,360 locally transmitted cases which were confirmed in HCM City (4,237), Bình Dương (2,877), Đồng Nai (939), Long An (236), Tiền Giang (197), Kiên Giang (168), An Giang (143), Đắk Lắk (91), Đắk Nông (70), Tây Ninh (66), Quảng Bình (45), Bình Định (45), Cần Thơ (43), Đồng Tháp (30), Khánh Hòa (28), Quảng Ngãi (23), Bình Thuận (21), Hà Nội (19), Ninh Thuận (14), Bình Phước (10), Bà Rịa - Vũng Tàu (10), Quảng Trị (9), Phú Yên (8 ), Bạc Liêu (8 ), Trà Vinh (5), Nghệ An (4), Thanh Hóa (4), Cà Mau (3), Quảng Nam (3), Bến Tre (1), Lào Cai (1), Thừa Thiên Huế (1), and Lâm Đồng (1). Details to follow shortly. …

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Illustrative image (Photo: HDBank) HCM City (VNS/VNA) - Proparco, the private sector financing branch of Agence Française de Developpement (AFD), has granted a 50 million USD loan to HDBank to finance green projects and promote sustainable development in Vietnam. It marks the first collaboration between Proparco and HDBank. A pioneer in green lending, HDBank has in past years helped foster Vietnam's economic development while minimising the impacts on the environment. The loan will help the bank get closer to international standards in green credit. All projects funded by HDBank satisfy green criteria such as reducing energy consumption, reducing CO2 emissions, reducing pollution, and targeting sustainable growth. Green projects promise to create more than 1,350 direct and indirect jobs. They will contribute to achieving the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals. Based on their common views on sustainable development, creating long-term …

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Tetra Pak's factory in Binh Duong (Photo: Tetra Pak) Binh Duong (VNS/VNA) - Tetra Pak has announced an additional investment of five million EUR in its 120 million EUR packaging material factory in southern Binh Duong province. The additional investment reaffirms its confidence in Vietnam's economic rebound from the COVID-19 pandemic and its continuing commitment to support food and beverage producers in Vietnam. “This additional investment of five million euros reflects our confidence in the strong recovery of Vietnam’s post-pandemic economy ,” said Eliseo Barcas, Managing Director for Tetra Pak Vietnam. “This investment also enables us to better serve our customers by offering greater capacity, more exciting packaging innovation and reducing our environmental footprint.” The new investment is expected to increase the factory’s annual output from the current 11.5 billion to 16.5 billion packages, thereby meeting the growing needs for aseptic packages in Vietnam …

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Hanoi (VNA) – Embracing circular economy will help Vietnam respond to natural resources starvation and environmental pollution, while heading towards sustainable economic development, Swiss experts said at a workshop held by the Swedish Embassy, the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment and the Hanoi People’s Committee on November 12. Deputy minister of Natural Resources and Environment Vo Tuan Nhan said Vietnam is facing formidable challenges in natural resources starvation (Photo: VietnamPlus) waste collection and recycling as main barriers for Vietnam when applying the circular economic model. th in the world for ocean plastic waste pollution. Although there are no official statistics on the amount and varieties of plastic in the Vietnamese sea and islands, plastic waste is easy to see in Vietnamese waters, with the country’s 112 estuaries being the main gateways of plastic to the ocean. A wealth of experience in recycling revolution from Sweden …

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Ho Chi Minh City’s master plan calls for the city to be developed into the nation’s largest economic hub for tourism, industrial services and high-tech agriculture by 2040, with a focus on climate change adaptation. A corner of Ho Chi Minh City. (Photo: VNA) According to a Government decision on the master plan, the city is expected to have 13-14 million people by 2040 and 16 million by 2060. It plans to allocate 100,000-110,000ha of land for urbanisation by 2040. The city will remain the country’s economic and technological hub, focusing on innovation as part of the national urban development strategy. Under the master plan, the city will develop a complete infrastructure linking the city with neighbouring provinces. The newly established Thu Duc city will be developed into an innovative city model that will support the development of HCM City and the southern region. The city will integrate urban development with transit-oriented development (TOD), including …

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