On the morning of March 23, 2023, Mr. Hoang Duc Vuong – representative of Vietnam Recycled Plastics Association and VietCycle Joint Stock Company listened to proposals and contributed ideas at the consultation seminar on setting up recycling cost norms and administrative costs to support recycling of products and packaging.
Mr. Hoang Duc Vuong participated in sharing and commenting on Fs
According to Clause 2, Article 81 of Decree 08/2022/ND-CP dated January 10, 2022 of the Government detailing a number of articles of the Law on Environmental Protection, the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment plans to submit to the Prime Minister for promulgation a reasonable and valid norm of recycling costs for a unit volume of product, packaging and administrative costs to support the implementation of recycling responsibilities of manufacturers and importers (referred to as Fs) in 2023.
Before the draft Decision above, the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment held a consultation workshop to build the norm of recycling costs and administrative costs to support the recycling of products and packaging at Melia Hanoi Hotel.
Photo of the Board of Directors listening to opinions at the Workshop
Joining the discussion and giving comments at the workshop, Mr. Hoang Duc Vuong, representative of the Recycling Plastics Branch and VietCycle Joint Stock Company, shared: “First of all, I would like to thank the drafting committee for taking into account a lot of our ideas during the previous workshop. Especially the simplification of product categories. I also noticed that the presentation of the parties was clear about the fee of Fs. Thank you Mr. Quang and the other parties for the presentation.”
In addition, for the plastic recycling industry, Mr. Vuong gave 4 direct comments on the Fs fee as follows:
- There should be a bonus coefficient for manufacturers and importers – businesses that have eco-packaging designs to help reduce loads or better support the collection and recycling process.
- Incentives are also needed for businesses and manufacturers to use recycled products or products with at least 30 – 50% recycled materials. Rewards for units that use recycled plastic beads or recycled materials will help close the cycle.
- Manufacturers have a variety of options and can hire recyclers on a tender basis. However, this method has some risks in terms of cost and quality of environmental protection (the downward trend in bidding prices may affect environmental protection criteria). Therefore, I suggest that even if there is a bidding, it is still not less than 70% of the recycling fee approved by the Prime Minister.
- Our input for recycling is not transparent because most of the collection and recycling is in the informal system. So for transparency, the Fs fee needs to take into account the support of 10% of the original declared VAT fee. If the Fs fee is smaller than the VAT fee, it will be very difficult.
These proposals also received consensus and recognition from Associate Professor Dr. Nguyen Duc Quang, Hanoi University of Science and Technology – representative of the group of consultants, Master Hua Phu Doan – representative of Vietnam Waste Recycling Association. In particular, Mr. Phan Tuan Hung, Director of Legal Department (Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment) also thanked and acknowledged in the conclusion of the workshop. Mr. Hung said he would work with the drafting board to synthesize proposals on Fs for further adjustment and public comment before submitting them to the Prime Minister for promulgation.
According to the provisions of Decree No. 08/2022/ND-CP, in case the manufacturer or importer chooses to make financial contributions to support the recycling of products and packages, the contribution amount is calculated according to the formula: F = R x V x Fs
F is the total amount that manufacturers and importers have to pay for each type of product and package (unit: VND).
R is the required recycling rate of each type of product and packaging (unit: %).
V is the volume of products and packaging produced and imported (unit: kg).
Fs is a reasonable and valid rate of recycling cost for a unit volume of product or packaging, including costs of sorting, collecting, transporting, recycling products, packaging and administrative costs to support the implementation of recycling responsibility of manufacturers and importers (unit: VND/kg).
Proposed photo of recycling cost norms of some products and packaging presented at the workshop
Workshop materials here
