According to Ben Tre Province’s Industrial Promotion and Development Consultancy Center, local CPI applications have proved effective, contributing to increasing product value from 30-40 percent, while reducing the rate of water use by 30 percent, power consumption by 20 percent, fuel usage by 10-30 percent, and labor use rate by 20 percent. In particular, cleaner production efficiency still can be obtained only through simple local solutions such as re-training workers and changing operation methods, not to mention the use of modern production equipment.

The Thanh Vinh Coconut Processing Plant was one of the first companies Ben Tre to apply cleaner production solutions and also proved a pioneering business success story. This success has become the premise for Ben Tre to promote cleaner production solutions applied in the manufacturing process. Specifically, getting support from the Cleaner Production in Industry (CPI) Component, Thanh Vinh Coconut Processing Plant invested more than VND6.5 billion to implement basic to complex cleaner production (CP) solutions such as monitoring steam consumption efficiency, Rearranging water valves rationally to maximize reuse of water in the production, utilizing coconut husks as raw material for burning to gather activated charcoal, and building concentrated sewage treatment systems. Thanks to these solutions, the plant reduced water consumption by 30 percent, fuel vapor from 10-15 percent, and power consumption by four percent on annual basis.

In recognition of the greater efficiency from CP solutions, the Thien Long Food Processing Enterprise has also invested their own capital in developing these solutions. In particular, it implemented improved high-performance lighting systems, waste heat recovery systems from the flue of the candy drying stove to dry rice chips; promoted efficient use of water for production and efficient coconut shell consumption and replaced is low efficiency engine to save raw materials. These solutions helped the enterprise save VND1.5 million on monthly electricity bills and reduce annual energy costs for drying by 50 percent.

The effect of CP solutions is apparent; however, the actual number of enterprises in the province in Ben Tre applying CP solutions is fairly small, and the main reason for that is that they have not spent enough on CP solution development. Therefore, to encourage local enterprises to implement CP solutions, Ben Tre Province’s Department of Industry and Trade decided to establish a CP office to take charge of promoting CP solutions at local levels.

In addition, Directive 03/2010/CT-UBND to promote the implementation of Cleaner Production in Industry Strategy until 2020 in the province was also issued. Under this directive, the province will use the annual budget to fund local enterprises to carry out CP solutions in conjunction with the provision of related guidance, facilities and access to other sources of capital. It will enhance cooperation with research institutes, universities and training colleges to promote research and the application of clean and environmentally friendly technologies and CP training programs, with a view to popularize CP activities in Ben Tre, a province considered to have large CP potential./.