Thanh Vinh Coconut Processing Factory was established in 2005 with total capacity from 4,000 to 6,000 tons/year. The factory specializes in desiccated coconut for domestic market and export. The total employees of the factory is 130.

Before applying cleaner production, the factory had to face the problem of wastewater pollution. The wastewater derived from the processing workshop had BOD5 content (615 mg/l), COD content(870 mg/l) much higher than Vietnamese Standards (2008). Air emission from rice husk boiler also polluted the surroundings. To solve these problem, the factory had supports from Cleaner Production Component in Industry of Ministry of Industry and Trade.

With the support from Ben tre Department of Industry and Trade, in 2008, the factory carried out the cleaner production assessment. The factory established the cleaner production team led by Mr.Cu Van Thanh – Director of the factory - and 9 other members to carry out the cleaner production assessment on the whole of production line.  The assessment of the production processes, the determination of waste streams, the balance of materials and energy were worked out. Then all data collected were used for analyzing to find out the cleaner production options for each production processes.

 After the assessment and the determination of improving solution options, the factory conducted some house keeping options which required low cost and no cost with the total investment of 123 million dong. After stage 1, the factory saved 189 million dong. At stage 2, the factory took the initiative in big investment solutions to thoroughly solve the environmental problems, viz. Replacing existing steam traps by Steam gards;  replacing steam boiler using husk by steam boiler using coconut shell; improving and upgrading workshops to satisfy the demand of the quality management system ISO 22.000: 2005; building wastewater treatment station.  The financial benefits brought in by these solutions was 1.3 billion per year as the material consumption and environmental pollution were reduced.

The benefits brought in to the factory from cleaner production were detailed in the following:

            
The following is the typical cleaner production solutions of the factory: