The Company was formerly Bac Thai porcelain factory. In 1993, the company turned its production from porcelain to votive paper from bamboo, neohouzeaua and splinter from chopsticks making. The company has three paper making lines to have the designed capacity of 6,500 tons/year and the whole company’s product are exported to Taiwan. In 2000, the company shifted from State-owned Company into Joint Stock Company.

Due to cold alkali technology, the wastewater from the company was laden with residue alkali, pulp suspended solid, lignin, leading to high BOD and COD level. Besides, exhausted fume including CO2, SOx is generated from drying process after paper making stage. Solid waste is cellulose decomposed in material dump. According to Environmental Impact Assessment Report from Thai Nguyen Department of Natural Resources and Envirnoment, solid wastes and air emissions of the company met permitted standards. However, because of untreated wastewater problems, the company was listed in “black enterprise list” on environment issues.

Recognizing the importance of applying cleaner production to sustainable development, the Company had established a CP team with 13 members to joint cleaner production demonstration project of Cleaner Production in Industry Component (CPI).

Thanks to the active support of the CPI and CP experts in Vietnam Cleaner Production Centre, the Company has carried out 29 CP options, mostly including no cost and low cost options.

Particular benefits derived from Cleaner Production are as follows:

Technical benefit	Economic benefit	Environmental benefit
Low cost options:
Annual saving of 47 tons FO	Annual saving up 616.1 million dong	Annual reduction of 125 tons CO2
Annual reduction of 4% of material consumption
Annual saving of 156000 kwh electricity
High cost options:	Saving of 1.5 billion dong/year	Reduction of 5.19 tons of dust/year. Annual reduction of 114,400 m3 of water consumption
Annual recovery 5,031 tons of pulp
Annual reduction of 4,658 tons of defect product
Annual reduction of 114,430 m3 of water consumption

Typical Cleaner Production options of the Company are as follows:

No.	CP Option	Investment	Performance	CP technique
1	Limit material losses (cover the cutting area, clean and collect spitted out pieces; raise awareness and skills of workers; Buy good quality of accessories for ensuring quality)	6.4 million dong	Saving up 108.1 million dong/year Reduction of 4% raw  material	GH
2	Adjust rational oil and sulfur burning mode	No cost	Saving of 342 million dong/year Reduction of 125 tons of CO2/year; Reduction of 1,250 tons of SO2/year	GH
3	Maintain water-spraying hose			GH
4	Check quality of oil imported			PC
5	Replace old and re-winded motors by new ones with higher efficiency	50 million dong	Saving of 156 million dong/year Payback time: after 4 months. Reduction of 156.000 kWh/year	EM
6	Install balancing capacitor			PC
7	Use natural lighting and use T8 lamp instead of T10 lamp			GH
8	Maintain regularly equipment			GH

Remarks: GH: Good Housekeeping; EC: Equipment Modification; PC: Process Control

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 Thai Nguyen Export Paper Joint Stock Company are a typical case study for enterprises in the sector of tea production in Vietnam./.