For Lam Tran Plastic Recycling, contributing to the country’s sustainable development and advancing circularity is more than just a goal. It is a mission. The company has chosen the challenging path of recycling plastic waste to achieve this vision.
Founded in 2017, Lam Tran, a young and ambitious recycler, has made significant progress in transforming discarded plastic packaging into valuable new materials, such as recycled plastic pellets such as LLDPE, LDPE, and HDPE, for which international buyers have high demand.
Situated on an 8,000 square meter site in the Mekong Delta province of Long An, Lam Tran’s facility has a designed capacity of 60,000 tons. Over the years, the company has increasingly focused on using locally sourced plastic waste as its primary input material, gradually moving away from the initial reliance on imported materials.
A company representative explained that in recent years, Lam Tran has proactively shifted to using local waste, which necessitated expanding its workforce for waste segregation and strengthening collaboration with plastic waste collectors nationwide. This year, the company plans to increase the volume of locally sourced plastic waste by between 30% and 70%.
“Currently, we segregate and recycle more than 2,000 tons of polyethylene (PE) waste a month, mainly from plastic bags. If left uncollected, this amount of plastic bags would cover an area of around 12 million square meters, equivalent to the total area of District 1 in Ho Chi Minh City,” said Phan Dang Bao, head of Cooperation and Sustainable Development at the company.
A strong commitment to sustainable development
From its inception, Lam Tran has prioritized sustainable development and social responsibility as the guiding principles of its business, according to Bao.
“This approach was not cost-effective in the beginning,” Bao explained. “However, sourcing plastic waste locally has allowed us to gradually improve our waste collection and segregation systems, yielding significant benefits for the environment and the community.”
“In terms of business efficiency, using local plastic waste has not significantly boosted revenue due to the challenges of collecting, segregating, and transporting plastic packaging. Additionally, the quality of local plastic waste is lower, as it contains more impurities,” he added.
Despite these challenges, the company has been able to optimize local resources and create more jobs for people in its supply chain.
While recycling inherently promotes sustainability, Lam Tran has also sought to minimize its environmental impact. Bao stated that the company regularly reviews its production processes to optimize resource utilization and reduce waste. Lam Tran continuously invests in green technology by acquiring advanced equipment for its factory.
Each year, the company allocates 10% to 15% of its revenue to upgrading recycling technology to lessen its environmental footprint and to funding training programs that raise awareness about recycling and environmental protection. For instance, last year, the company spent approximately VND15 billion on these initiatives, and the budget for 2020-2025 is projected to amount to between VND75 billion and VND100 billion.
Recently, Lam Tran launched the “Green Future” program, investing VND200 million to conduct workshops on waste segregation and environmental cleaning. The program engaged 200 employees and over 1,000 community members, aiming to raise awareness about recycling and reducing plastic waste.
“Lam Tran has integrated sustainable development goals into the company’s long-term strategy, ensuring that both the company and its partners work together to create positive environmental impacts,” Bao said. He also urged the community to collaborate in addressing the issue of plastic waste and building a sustainable future.
Meeting international standards
With sustainability as its core vision, Lam Tran has adhered to stringent quality standards in recycling to ensure its products meet the expectations of discerning customers, especially in European markets.
“From the outset, we aimed to apply international standards, particularly those in Europe,” said Bao. These include EuCertPlast, SGS, and the Global Recycled Standard (GRS), which cover processing, manufacturing, packaging, labeling, trading, and distribution of products made with at least 20% recycled material. The company also complies with standards for controlling Substances of Very High Concern (SVHC) in recycled plastic.
“We are proud to be among the first companies in Vietnam to meet EuCertPlast standards,” Bao added, referring to the high benchmarks set in Europe.
These standards support Lam Tran in fulfilling the extended producer responsibility (EPR) norms, which are crucial for any company committed to long-term sustainable development. Adopting international standards has also facilitated partnerships with major stakeholders to jointly implement EPR which requires producers to take responsibility for recycling a certain proportion of the products and packaging they make.
Lam Tran takes pride in its ability to compete with advanced European companies by offering high-quality recycled plastic materials backed by a strong commitment to sustainability.
After seven years in operation, Lam Tran Plastic Recycling has earned the trust of international customers who share a strong belief in a greener, cleaner environment.
More importantly, by choosing the challenging path of sustainable development, Lam Tran has set its sights on transforming waste—often discarded and harmful to the environment—into valuable resources and exportable products, benefiting the company, the community, and the country.
“Sustainable development is an integral part of our long-term vision as we aim to become the leading recycler in terms of both quality and impact on the environment and the community,” Bao concluded.
