HCM CITY — With sustainable development now a global imperative, Việt Nam’s plastics industry is proactively reshaping its growth model toward a green, circular economy, according to the Việt Nam Plastics Association.

The association is promoting a dedicated recycling industrial park to help mall and medium-sized businesses access clean technologies, contribute to net zero goals and reinforcing the position of Việt Nam’s plastics sector in the green economy.

Đinh Đức Thắng, chairman of the association, said: “Việt Nam is entering a new development era with increasingly strict environmental, tariff, and international green standards.”

“This is both a challenge and a motivation for the plastics industry to restructure, innovate in technology and design, promote circular economy, strengthen recycling, and develop environmentally friendly materials,” Thắng said at the 35th founding anniversary of the association held on Wednesday.

It must advance sustainable, green and circular development by scaling plastic waste collection and recycling, while pursuing high growth to contribute to the Government’s future double-digit GDP ambitions, he said.

In 2024, the plastics industry recorded revenue of nearly US$32 billion and export turnover hit $10 billion to nearly 190 markets globally.

Deputy Chairman of HCM City People’s Committee Nguyễn Văn Thọ said that plastic enterprises have contributed significantly to the city’s industrial production and export turnover as well as created jobs for workers and promoted the development of supporting industries, Thọ said.

The city will continue to offer favourable conditions for plastics enterprises to promote innovation and digital transformation as well as participate more deeply in the global value chain.

It will also promote linkages between the plastics industry and supporting industries, strengthen co-operation between enterprises, research institutes and universities in order to improve technological capacity and develop high-quality human resources.

Within the framework of the event, the Memorandum of Understanding signing ceremony between the Việt Nam Plastics Association and the Việt Nam Waste Recycling Association for 2025–28 period marked a new step in efforts to enhance cooperation to promote circular economy, improve product quality, and domestic production capacity.

Both sides will coordinate to develop technical standards for recycled materials, share data on technology and markets, train human resources, pilot local collection and recycling sorting models, and support businesses in meeting traceability, certification, and environmental standards required by major export markets.

Over the past 35 years, the industry has grown to more than 4,000 enterprises, 90 per cent of which are small and medium-sized businesses, providing stable jobs for hundreds of thousands of workers. — VNS