The US Dow Chemical Company is financing a training project on cleanerproduction and waste management in Vietnam to help local businessescreate environmentally friendly products.

TheVietnam Centre for Environment and Clean Production under the Ministryof Industry and Trade provided technical assistance and sent experts tosupport the training courses in cities and provinces.

As many as 23 drills were held throughout the country with theparticipation of 1,551 enterprises, mainly operating in highly-pollutingindustries such as coal, cement and rubber.

Thecourses aimed to enhance businesses’ capacity to use natural resourcesand energy efficiently, recycle material for production, and mitigatetheir environmental impact.

The courses introducedparticipants to the application of production methods adapted to theiroperational scale with little investment costs.

Thebeneficiaries also learnt about building and managing databases onmaterial production and consumption, as well as renewing and upgradingclean technology.

A number of awareness-raisingcampaigns were launched to increase businesses’ understanding of theimportance of environmental protection and the application of cleanerproduction techniques to reduce waste and production costs.

Experts advised the Government to promote cleaner production methodsamongst the business community, especially small- and medium-sizedenterprises; to support initiatives on environmental protection; anddevelop competent experts in the field.

Furtherrecommendations included adopting policies that encourage businesses toapply environmentally friendly production methods and helping themdevise safe solutions to reduce possible risks and damage.-VNA