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Young entrepreneurs run green businesses
3:53 PM,5/31/2012
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Most of the other ceramic artisans in the old village use coal to fire their furnaces.
Manh's business has reduced waste considerably, thus contributing to the green economy Viet Nam has been striving to put in place.
Manh is one of thousands of youthful entrepreneurs setting up their businesses with environmental-friendly procedures and products.
"In the early days, we had no idea of the role of technology in building a green economy," he said.
He added that energy consumption accounted for 30 to 40 per cent of total production costs.
Vice chairman of the Viet Nam Youth Union Association Nguyen Manh Cuong said more than 80 per cent of rural young people had no idea what the green economy meant.
"The urgent work is to change this lack of awareness," he said. "Youth should be encouraged to start their businesses on clean green lines."
He praised the production of biogas from vegetable and animal waste was a pioneer in this direction.
"The important thing is to introduce the green concept into all business ideas," he said, adding that he proposed to establish a club for young people to start green businesses.
Nguyen Thi Thien Phuong from the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment said demand for green labelled and environmental-friendly products was large.
He claimed 45 per cent of rural people wanted to use green products while the rate in urban areas was 64 per cent.
Nguyen Thi Lam Giang, a co-ordinator of Cleaner Production Component in Industry - a joint programme between the Ministry of Trade and Industry and Denmark - said the potential for recycling waste was high. At present only 30 per cent of papers were used again in Viet Nam while the world average was 55 to 65 per cent.
Nguyen Thi Tho, an environment ministry expert said 80 per cent of young people wanted to have a job which had a good effect on the environment.
Experts said Viet Nam should develop green action plans and complete the legal framework to develop a green economy.
Manh said small businesses found it hard to access loans and use tax schemes to promote the technology.
"We took nearly a year to complete loan application documents to build the kiln," he added.
Source: VNS |
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