Viet Quang is formerly a household business with two members working in the field of seafood product trading from 1988 to 2004. In 2005, the company was officially established in line with the decision no. 3302080508 dated 11th March 2005 issued by the Department of Planning and Investment. After one year of operation, the company has built up its own reputation towards domestic and international clients. Orders have been increasingly received. In 2006, Viet Quang therefore invested in expansion and upgrading of its workshops and facilities to be in line with the fishery sector’s standard. Its product quality and productivity are enhanced day by day.
Before applying CP, the serious problem of the company is wastewater with huge volume and flow overwhelms old sewage treatment systems and polluting the environment surrounding area (water pollution and bad smell). For solving these problems, in 2008, the company received the support from the Ministry of Industry and Trade via the Cleaner Production in Industry Component (CPI) to conduct Cleaner Production Assessment and Application
Under the MOIT support, in 2008, the company had implemented CP assessment. In the 1st phase (from October 2008 to June 2009), the Company established a CP team led by Mr. Van Cong Man – Deputy Director of the company and other 3 members to assess the whole production line. The Team has conducted a walk-through assessment on the tea production line at place. After the assessment and identification of waste streams, the Team has conducted mass and energy balances for the whole production line. All collected data have been used to analyze and identify Cleaner Production options for each production step
After conducting CPA and identifying improvement options, the enterprise had implemented 24 no cost and low cost options a total budget of VND 32 millions. The benefit gains 1,6 billion dong in 2010. In the second phase (from July 2009 to November 2011), under the supporting of technical and financial components CPI, the company has actively implemented high-investment options to address thoroughly the emerging environmental issues as change into use a new refrigeration compressor system with auxiliary system and R507 refrigerant, substitute the current electricity transmission wires by the larger cross-section ones made of copper, reconstruct waste treatment system with the total investment cost of 3,6 billion dong. Benefits from those solutions are 2,1 billion dong in 1st quarter of 2011.
Particular benefits derived from Cleaner Production are as follows:
| Technical benefit | Economic benefit | Environmental benefit |
| Phase 1 | Annually reduction of 2000m3 wastewater Reduction of 30 tons of BOD/year, 45 tons of COD/year, 9 tons of SS/year and treated wastewater meet Vietnam environmental standard Significant reduction of bad odor Reduction of 15.8 tons of CO2/year | |
| Reduction of 1,8% specific consumption of material and chemicals | Saving of 1,6 billion dong | |
| Phase 2 | ||
| Reduction of 18,7% specific consumption of material and chemicals Reduction of 20.000kWh of electricity/year | Saving of 2,1 billion dong in 1st quarter of 2011 | |
Typical Cleaner Production options of the Company are as follows:
| No. | CP Option | Investment | Performance | CP technique |
| 1 | Strictly control the imported materials to reduce the solid impurities in the raw shrimps | No cost | Improve product quality | GH |
| 2 | Create monitoring sheets against the material flow between different production phases and the amount of wastes generated by shift, working day and type of materials | No cost | Reduction of 1.8% material consumption norm, chemicals and water-supplying | GH |
| 3 | Create monitoring sheets against the amount of water used by batch, shift and day; and consolidate the data by month and quarter | No cost | GH | |
| 4 | Install high-pressure washer and pressurized pumps to reduce the water consumption for floor-flushing, processing activities and grill washing | 3.5 million dong | EM | |
| 5 | Train and enhance the workers’ attitude in saving water during the water using processes. | Low cost | GH | |
| 6 | Reduce the voltage to 390V | 5 million dong | Reduction of 20000 kWh/year Reduction of 15,8 tons of CO2/year | PC |
| 7 | Change the jointing buffers of the cold storage houses | 2.4 million dong | EM | |
| 8 | Improve the insulation of the cold storage tunnel, construct technical cooling ceiling for the house to limit the impact of high outdoor temperature on it | 12 million dong | GH | |
| 9 | Build a separating wall between the cold storage house and the compressor system site. Construct a sliding door for the cold storage house. | 9 million dong | GH | |
| 10 | Change into use a new refrigeration compressor system with its auxiliary system and R507 refrigerant | 1,5 billion dong | Saving of 238 million dong | PC - MC |
| 11 | Rebuild the wastewater treatment system | 1,8 billion dong | Reduction of 2000m3 of wastewater/year Reduction of 30 tons of BOD/year; 45 tons of COD/year; 9 tons of SS/year | EOP |
Remarks: GH: Good Housekeeping; EC: Equipment Change; PC: Process Control; OR: Onsite Recovery, MC: Material change, EOP: End of pipe
Perceiving the benefits from CP application, the factory insisted to maintain the CP team activities and integrate CP in the general management system at place. In order to facilitate CP application, a simple environmental management system has been developed. The factory has also set up environmental policy, whereby it is requested that the environmental protection law and other regulations should be followed strictly, ensuring the sustainable development of the company and reducing waste emission sources. factory has integrated process management system with the environmental management system, therefore, energy and material consumption is monitored at the same time with the monitoring of pollutant parameters in the waste streams. A sample system and legal procedures are built and applied for environment data collection, checking, classification and data analysis.
An environmental monitoring plan has been initiated. The aim of the plan is to monitor significant improvements from applying CP or to adjust if there is any reduction in environmental benefits. Environment monitoring system includes monitoring air quality and wastewater.
CP not only brings about benefits from energy saving, emission minimization, reduced water consumption, but also helps the Company increase production, improve product quality, and prove prestige. The implemented CP options at the Company are a typical case study for enterprises in the sector of aquaculture production in Vietnam./.