Vietnam’s plastics industry is facing a growing battle between virgin and recycled plastics. Recycled resin currently accounts for around 10% to 15% of plastic materials used in domestic manufacturing, higher than the global average of under 10%. Vietnam has emerged as one of Southeast Asia’s lead ing plastics manufacturing hubs, accounting for 2.3% of global plastics trade value. At the same time, the country is also the world’s fourth-largest generator of plastic waste, underscoring the vast potential for growth in the plastic recy- cling industry. Closed-loop for recycled plastic pellets At its plant in Long Hau Industrial Park in Tay Ninh Province, Airspeed Manufacturing Vietnam produces high-precision molds and injec- tion-molded components. The facility operates an in-house post-industrial recycling (PIR) system that collects, sorts, crushes, and reprocesses plas- tic waste and defective materials generated during production back into the manufacturing cycle. Plastic engineers say that plastics tend to become more brittle after each heat-processing cycle due to the breakdown of polymer bonds. To maintain product quality and safety, manufacturers using internal PIR systems often limit recycled content to 10% to 20% and recycle materials only 3-5 times on average. Airspeed Vietnam, however, has raised the share of recycled plastic content […]