EIP demonstration

Case studies of industrial symbiosis in Hoa Khanh and Tra Noc 1&2 contribute to the circular economy of Vietnam

The "Eco-industrial park intervention in Vietnam" project co-implemented by UNIDO and the Ministry of Planning and Investment (MPI) of Vietnam aims at improving productivity of natural resources (including energy, water, and materials) and reducing pollution and waste intensity of businesses and other organizations. The primary benefits will be increasing productivity and decreasing environmental degradation. These, in turn, will contribute to other benefits such as improvement of industry competitiveness, improvement of market access, and meeting consumer needs for environmentally sound goods and services.

It builds on the previous assignment by focusing on Hoa Khanh and Tra Noc 1&2 industrial parks and providing support for the further development and scaling up of the 12 industrial symbiosis opportunities identified previously for the 2 IPs. Through the course of the assignment, 03 new IS opportunities were identified. Pre-feasibility studies were developed for three of the most promising ones. In addition, a case study was developed for an interesting existing IS opportunity in Hoa Khanh IP.

Hand-on training was provided and workshops were organized for 118 participants and 26 enterprises involved in the industrial parks targeted by the Project to present and discuss the results of the feasibility analyses.

At the end of the assignment, of the 12 opportunities, two are implemented fully (1 in Tra Noc IP and 1 in Hoa Khanh IZ). Other opportunities were either implemented partially/for a short duration (2 in Tra Noc IP and 2 in Hoa Khanh IZ), failed implementation but are under new planning stages (2 in Hoa Khanh IZ), or not implemented at all (4 in Tra Noc IP and 1 in Hoa Khanh IZ). The reasons for non-implementation were due to a lack of interest, existing legal barriers, or changing circumstances and priorities of the companies due to the covid pandemic.

Benefits from industrial symbiosis (IS) interventions

Such industrial symbiosis solutions focus on the reuse of wastewater and waste materials of one company as an input to another company; the recovery of waste heat and the improvement of the efficiency of waste collection; and the mutual utilization of water boilers as well as share of transport and other services for workers. The various types of savings and benefits achieved - water, energy, pollution, and economic benefits of the implemented IS opportunities with significant savings attributed to them.

The 15 IS opportunities identified (12 from the previous phase that we monitored and supported plus the 3 newly identified ones) in these two Industrial Parks hold great potential towards improving the environmental, social, and economic performances of the relevant tenant companies as well as the IPs on the whole.

The IS implementation would play an important role in the two Industrial Parks improving the performance and progressing towards becoming eco-industrial parks.