Long-term investment is a tough job

David Duong, president and CEO, Vietnam Wastle Solutions Co.Ltd

Eco-friendly garbage trucks, trash cans

David Duong began the conversation by talking about the nickname “the king of trash” people have given him. “‘King’ may sound lovely, but ‘trash’ makes it less attractive,” he said. “However, I think this nickname suggests people understand what we are doing.”

One of the highlights of VWS’s community activities in 2018 was the company provided six environmentally-friendly garbage trucks to HCMC, Long An and Kien Giang. In addition to waste treatment as their core operation, assisting local authorities in collecting and transporting garbage in an increasingly eco-friendly way is a new activity that VWS pursues.

In 2003, when a HCMC delegation visited a waste treatment plant in the U.S. and learned about a type of garbage trucks that is odorless, the city leaders came to believe the environment in Vietnam could be greatly improved with this vehicle. This was the reason Duong aspired to provide eco-friendly garbage trucks to HCMC and the other localities. In 2016, VWS invited a group of experts from a U.S. garbage truck manufacturing company to Vietnam to study local conditions and develop a vehicle suitable for the environment, climate and types of waste in Vietnam. In November 2018, VWS provided HCMC, Long An and Kien Giang with garbage trucks fueled by compressed natural gas (CNG), two units for each locality. Each vehicle is worth about US$500,000, with features such as garbage compactors and leachate containers. Notably, there is an automatic atomizer to deodorize unpleasant odors, making passers-by no longer feel uncomfortable.

Due to its own design suitable for Vietnam, the price of this vehicle is fairly high. However, if a domestic company can manufacture this kind of garbage trucks in large quantities, the truck will be cheaper, Duong said. After the story of the environmentally-friendly garbage trucks, he talked about the intention to offer HCMC eco-friendly trash cans, responding to the city’s efforts to call on people to do away with littering. A garbage truck should have a design suitable for Vietnam. So should a trash can. VWS will invite experts to Vietnam to study an appropriate trash can for HCMC. “After the study, VWS will give HCMC some trash cans. We have not had the exact number yet, but it will at least be sufficient for the downtown area,” Duong said.

A facility turning waste into electricity

Aside from Da Phuoc Integrated Waste Management Facility in HCMC’s Binh Chanh District, VWS will spend hundreds of millions of U.S. dollars building a plant that turns waste into fuels in Long An.

Talking about his 2019 plans, Duong said this year would be one for technological innovation at VWS, switching from garbage burial to a new technology. The scheme for a new project with a daily capacity of 2,000 tons and a budget of some US$400 million in Da Phuoc was submitted to the HCMC government in July 2018. If it is approved, the facility will be completed and put into operation after a year. Usually, it takes two years for such a

plant to come on stream, but since the company has prepared everything, their new facility will start operation after only 12 months from final approvals.

Along with the project in HCMC, VWS will also accelerate the development of the Green Technology Park at the 1,760-hectare site in Long An. This project will turn garbage into gas for electricity generation and liquefied petroleum gas to fuel buses and waste collection vehicles. This will be a waste treatment area making use of advanced technology adopted in waste collection, processing and recycling, creating new products for HCMC, Long An and the Southern Key Economic Region as a whole. So far, two bridges and a road section have been built, and further adjustments are being made, Duong said. Albeit slower than expected, the investor will try the best to meet all their obligations, and then wait for the approval of the agencies in charge.

Sharing his experience of investment in Vietnam and the U.S., David Duong said the two countries have very different investment environments. When starting business in Vietnam, he sometimes felt exhausted by the waiting time. In the U.S., he can complete eight to nine jobs per day. Meanwhile, in Vietnam, all jobs outside Da Phuoc have to wait. Things will not become faster even if he presses for it. “Investment is challenging everywhere,” he said. “In Vietnam, short-term investment may be more likely to succeed, while long-term investment is a tough job.”

In 2019, Duong said he expects VWS’s projects will create more jobs for people. Moreover, the application of new technologies to waste treatment will help improve the environment of the city. “When seeing my work benefit the environment and human health, I feel happy,” he said. “I want to do more for Vietnam, firstly to deal with waste to protect the environment.”