Analysis of production, consumption and environmental burden of plastic industry in Vietnam by input-output table
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EnvironmEntal SciEncES EnvironmEntal SciEncE
DOI: 10.31276/VJSTE.63(2).89-96
Analysis of production, consumption
and environmental burden of plastic industry
in Vietnam by input-output table
Thi Yen Ta1, 2*, Thi Anh Tuyet Nguyen1, Hoang Thi Hong Van3
1School of Environmental Science and Technology, Hanoi University of Science and Technology
2Faculty of Environmental, Hanoi University of Natural Resources and Environment
3College of Urban Works Construction
Received 12 December 2020; accepted 5 April 2021
Abstract:
The plastic industry is an economic sector that plays an important role in promoting a circular economy in Vietnam.
This study used the updated 2018 input-output (IO) table to identify and analyse the production and consumption
of seven different plastics including: HDPE, PS, PE, PET, PVC, PP, and others. The study also integrated the IO
model to unveil the environmental burden of these plastics through the plastic demand of 40 economic sectors and
households. As a result, in 2018, the amount of direct solid waste from the plastic industry was 58,147 tons and
the amount of indirect solid waste from the plastic industry to other economic sectors and the household sector
were 214,258 tons and 6,262 tons, respectively. Agriculture and its services, food processing, fashion manufacturing,
basic chemical production, electrical and electronic equipment production, and transport production embodied the
highest indirect burdens due to their use of plastic products. This study contributes to MFA research and developing
strategies for sustainable production and consumption of plastics and the management of plastic waste in Vietnam.
Keywords: consumption, economic, IO table, plastic, production.
Classification number: 5.3
- (i) Thermoplastics (PE, HDPE, LDPE, LLDPE, PP, PS,
Introduction
PVC): these plastics can be recycled many times and the
The plastic industry is an important sector to the
main outputs are plastic packaging, construction materials,
Vietnamese economy. Over the period of 2010-2015, the
consumer products, electrical/electronic equipment, and
industry reached an annual growth rate of 16-18% in which
furniture/appliances, etc. Consumer demand for PE and PP
there were items with growth rates of nearly 100% [1]. The
are the most common, which accounts for about 48.5% of
plastic industry is one of ten industries that the Vietnamese
these plastics.
government prioritizes for development planning due to
its stable growth rate and reasonable export efficiency.
- (ii) Thermosetting plastic (epoxy, melamine, phenolic,
Vietnam’s consumption demand for plastic products has polyurethane, and urea): these plastic materials are not
also increased significantly from 35 kg/person/year in 2007
recyclable. The plastics are mainly used in construction,
furniture, transportation, adhesives, electronics, printing
inks, and coatings [1].
to 108 kg/person/year in 2018 [2].
The plastic industry is divided into four main segments,
which include packaging plastic (41%), construction plastic
The increase in plastic consumption leads to higher
(24%), civil plastic (20%), and engineering plastics (15%) [1]. volumes of plastic waste and the accumulation of plastic
across all economic sectors. Internationally, many studies
Plastic materials are categorized by two main types:
*Corresponding author: Email: [email protected].
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have been conducted such as a material flow analysis
Methods
of plastic waste to promote a circular economy [3], the
role of stakeholders in the plastic industry value chain in
implementing solutions to achieve a transition to a circular
economy in the European plastic packaging industry [4], the
analysis of plastic tax benefits and disadvantages within a
circular economy [5], proposing plastic waste management
scenarios [6], assessment and circularity potential of
recovery systems for household plastic waste [7], and the
characterization and evaluation of plastic recyclability [8].
In Vietnam, there have been several studies on the effects
of plastic production and consumption on the environment,
the impact of plastic recycling in craft villages, green-house
gas emissions from plastic production, the environmental
burden of PET plastic, effects of plastic waste on the sea
environment, and the reality of plastic waste in Vietnam
[2, 9-13]. These studies mainly focus on analysis of the
green-house gas (GHG) emissions of plastic recycling on
the household scale of craft villages or the analysis of the
GHG burden on economic sectors by the plastic industry.
To the best of our knowledge, there have been no studies
on analysing the burdens of plastic waste from economic
sectors and households. Therefore, it is essential to unveil
these environmental burdens through plastic demand
and consumption. This study is expected to be a valuable
reference for policymakers in proposing a resource-
efficient plastic waste management solution and specifically
targets the management of plastic materials and waste by
consumers.
The IO model was proposed by W. Leontief and is useful
in the analysis of economic activity [15]. The model can be
described by
(
)
(
) ( )
( )
+
∑
=
(i = 1, 2…, N)
(1)
where (x1)i is the total output of goods i, (z11)ij is the technical
coefficient that represents the intermediate input of goods j
required to produce a unit of goods i, and (y1)i is the final
demand of goods i.
Based on the 2018 IO table updated by RAS method [19,
20], this research identified current plastic productions, the
plastic consumption of economic sectors (ICONS), and the
plastic consumption of households (DCONS). Through an
inventory of the life cycle of plastic products, this research
determined the coefficient of the plastic waste generation
of production activities (WFi). By integrating the life
cycle inventory (LCI) and the 2018 IO table, this study
estimated the environmental burden from consumption by
households (W-DCONS) and consumption by economic
sectors (W-ICONS). However, this study did not consider
imported and domestically produced plastic (DoProd) of
virgin plastic and the amount of plastic waste recycled and
disposed of after consumption.
Figure 1 shows the connection flow from the production
and consumption of plastic products. Plastic consumption is
determined by the formula:
CONS = DCONS + ICONS + IM
(2)
There are different approaches to the investigation
of material flow. One approach is material flow analysis
(MFA) [3, 14] and another is using an IO table [15, 16]. An
IO table is a mathematical economic model simulating the
relationship between the manufacturing industries and the
products of the economy. A number of studies have used
the IO model to analyse the relationship of emissions and/or
waste between economic sectors [17, 18].
To obtain the consumption demand of plastic products
(DCONS and ICONS) of economic sectors and households,
the plastic industry’s 2018 IO table is converted to physical
units.
This study conducted surveys at factories that
manufacture plastic products and determined the coefficient
of plastic waste emissions at these factories (WFi). Based
on the consumption demand of plastic products by
economic sectors and households, the study estimated the
environmental burdens using the following formula:
This study used the IO model to determine the current
state of production and consumption of plastics in
Vietnam’s economic sectors and households combined with
LCI techniques to determine the environmental burdens of
the plastic industry through demand from other economic
sectors and households.
W-DCONS=DCONS*WFi
W-ICONS=ICONS*WFi
(3)
(4)
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Plastic demand of
economic sectors and
household
Environment burden of plastic
industry
WFi
Fig. 1. Research method.
Total plastic waste emissions were determined based on (Minh Khai, Hung Yen Province and Trieu Khuc - craft
the following formula:
village of Hanoi) were conducted. As a result, the plastic
waste coefficient (WFi) of the 7 types of plastic HDPE,
PE, PET, PP, PVC, PS, and other were 0.03291; 0.03480;
0.02594; 0.04303; 0.02911; 0.02848; and 0.03670 tons/ton
of plastic, respectively.
T-WCONS=W-DCONS+W-ICONS
(5)
Based on statistics from the General Statistics Office,
this study identified the consumption structure of plastics
and classified plastic products into 7 main plastic groups
(i = HDPE, PE, PET, PP, PVC, PS, other).
Results and discussion
Plastic wastes can be categorized into two types: (1)
plastic waste from final consumption (post-consumer plastic
waste) and (2) industrial plastic waste consisting of plastic
losses from the production such as plastic packaging waste
arising from packing, processing, and assembly of plastic
products. This study identified plastic as the second type
to determine the coefficient of plastic waste generation in
the factories. A survey of 10 factories and 10 households
Plastic production and consumption
The plastic industry has four main segments: packaging
plastic, household plastic, construction plastic, and
engineering plastic. Fig. 2 shows that there have been
structural changes to these segments over different periods.
In the first stage, household plastic accounted for nearly 60%
of the production value, then gradually decreased over time
producing plastic products in two plastic craft villages because household plastic was imported more to Vietnam.
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002
0.478
021
029
010
001
036
HDPE
PE
PET
PP
PS
PVC
Other
(A)
(B)
Fig. 2. Structure of plastic industry in Vietnam. (A) Structure of plastic industry by year, (B) Structure of plastics consumption in 2018.
Plastic products demand of the economic sectors in 2018
Since 2008, the plastic packaging industry increased to
nearly 40% and remained stable until 2018. This could be a
potential plastic segment because the consumer demand in
households and industries for this plastic is very large. In
addition, this segment had one of the largest export volumes
of plastic over all segments of the plastic industry.
The plastic consumption demand (PDs) of 40 economic
sectors of Vietnam in 2018 is shown in Fig. 4, in which the
2018 IO table was converted to physical units. The total plastic
demand of the economy in 2018 was 7,739 thousand tons in
which 7 plastic types were included, namely, PP (2,823 thousand
tons), PVC (2,242 thousand tons), PE (1,602 thousand tons),
PET (799 thousand tons), HDPE (36.9 thousand tons), PS (83.5
thousand tons), and other (152.05 thousand tons).
This study uses an updated 2018 IO table to identify the
current state of production and consumption in the plastics
industry and estimated that the output of plastic in 2018
was 10.2 million tons, of which the amount of plastic for
Plasticproductssupplymostoftheeconomicsectorsandthere
intermediate consumption for other economic sectors was is a difference between the plastic consumption of each economic
sector. PP and PE plastics provide for many economic industries
like Agriculture and its services (S1), Fashion manufacturing
(S9), Paper and its services (S11), Basic chemicals (S15), and
Trading (S31). PP and PE are two preeminent materials that
produce many products. In contrast, HDPE, PVC, PET, and other
plastics only supply to some specific industries. Specifically,
HDPE plastic has good bearing capacity, moisture resistance,
and heat resistance so it is used for plastic packaging capable
of holding dangerous materials, which are mainly supplied to
the Gasoline and lubricants (S13), Basic chemicals (S15), and
building materials (S17) sectors. PVC plastic is mainly used for
manufacturing building materials (S17), Electronic, electronic
equipment (S19), and for Civil construction (S29). PET plastic
has low release ability and produces thin and light products in
all three types of blow, suction, and molding technologies so it is
often used to manufacture food packaging for the food industry
(S8), and packaging of Electronic, electronic equipment (S19).
A part of PET plastic is used for fabric production in the Fashion
manufacturing (S9) sector. Other plastics are thermoplastics
that are capable of producing some typical plastic products
in the engineering industry so they are widely used for the
engineering groups of building materials (S17), Equipment
and tool production (S20), and Transport production (S21).
The consumption demand for plastic in the trade and service
industries sectors (S30-S40) are mainly plastic packaging
7.7 million tons, while that for household consumption
was 178.9 thousand tons, for exports was 3.8 million tons,
and imports were 1.5 million tons (Fig. 3). On average,
consumer demand for PP, PE, and PVC plastic products was
higher than that of other plastics (Fig. 2B and Fig. 3). Due to
their many preeminent features, these thermoplastics have
the ability to produce a wide range of plastic products for
industries and household consumption. In 2018, the output
of exported plastic products was twice larger than that of
imported plastic products. Exported plastic products, which
were mainly plastic packaging products, accounted for 40%
(PE, PP, and PET).
Fig. 3. Plastic quantity and consumption in Vietnam in 2018.
productsandhouseholdplasticsproducedfromPEandPPplastic.
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Fig. 4. Plastics demand of 40 sectors in 2018 (tons).
Note: S1: agriculture and its services; S2: forestry and its services; S3: fishery and aquaculture; S4: hard coal and lignite; S5: crude
oil; S6: natural gas or lPG; S7: extractive; S8: food processing; S9: fashion manufacturing; S10: wood products; S11: paper and its
service; S12: coke; S13: gasoline and lubricants; S14: other oil mining; S15: basic chemicals; S16: plastics; S17: building materials;
S18: metal production; S19: electronic, electronic equipment; S20: equipment and tool production; S21: transport production; S22:
medical equipment; S23: electricity and production and delivery; S24: gas and services; S25: water; S26: sewerage and wastewater
treatment services; S27: solid waste collection, treatment and disposal services; S28: other waste treatment; S29: civil construction;
S30: repairing services; S31: trading; S32: transport; S33: post services; S34: hotels and catering; S35: editing and communication
services; S36: financial intermediation and insurance services; S37: real estate activities; S38: other business activities; S39:
administrative and education; S40: other community, social, and personal services.
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Environmental burdens from plastic production and
uses
can be easily burned, so the wastage rate of this plastic is
higher than that of other types. However, this type of plastic
is easy to recover, reuse, and recycle and the recycling
process does not require high quality plastic input waste.
Thus, the environmental burden of this plastic is negligible.
Based on the coefficient of solid waste generated from
the production of plastic products, this study integrated the
2018 IO table to determine the amount of solid waste in
the plastic industry contributing to other economic sectors.
It was estimated that the total solid waste emissions of the
plastic industry were 278,667 tons of which the amount of
direct solid waste from the plastic industry was 58,147 tons
(Fig. 5), the indirect emissions of the plastic industry from
other economic sectors were 214,258 tons (Fig. 6), and from
household consumption was 6,262 tons (Fig. 7).
PVC and PE are two types of plastic with large emissions
at 50,268 tons and PE 38,862 tons, respectively. However,
PVC plastic is mostly supplied to industries for direct
use such as construction while PE plastic often produces
packaging products such as plastic bags, bottles, jars, and
disposable cups. These types of plastic products are difficult
to be collected for recycling, so the impacts of PE plastics
are of great concern.
In general, the contribution of emissions from the plastic
industry mainly comes from economic groups with high
demand for plastic products such as basic chemical industry
(S15), food processing (S8), Fashion manufacturing (S9),
Electronic, electronic equipment (S19), and Transport
production (S21).
This study also estimated indirect emissions due to
plastic use from households (Fig. 7). Plastic products
directly consumed by households are packaging (plastic
bags, bottles, jars, box trays, etc.) and household plastic
(buckets, dishes, cups, water pipes, etc.). Therefore, PE,
PP, PET, and PVC resins are the groups of plastics that
contribute more indirectly than other plastics in household
consumption. Moreover, the statistics of plastic products
consumed by household groups are often more difficult
to collect because most of them are disposable plastic
packaging and the collection efficiency depends greatly
on the environmental consciousness of the user. Therefore,
to improve the efficiency of collection and recycling, it is
necessary to pay attention to this consumer group.
Fig. 5. Waste from plastic sector in 2018.
PP, PE, and PVC plastics were three types of plastics
with a higher emission contribution to the plastics industry
than the rest of the plastics.
Fig. 6. Indirect plastic waste from sectors in 2018.
The emission contribution of PP was the highest among
the plastics (98,786 tons). PP is a group of plastics with high
consumption demand. The production of this type of plastic
Fig. 7. Waste plastic of household consumption in 2018.
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The results of this study are the basis for the development with the largest plastic waste. PP and PE plastics contributed
of the plastic industry and the basis for developing a strategy mainly to agriculture services, fashion manufacturing,
of collection, reuse, and recycling of various plastic products
to improve plastic waste management and treatment
efficiency. Indeed, while the plastic industry contributes to
most economic sectors, the use of plastic products is creating
great pressure on the environment and the government is
in a place to encourage the reduction of plastic generation.
Therefore, to ensure the stable development of the plastic
industry in the coming time, plastic manufacturers need to
gradually change production materials to increase product
life cycle (for example, converting products plastic bags to
non-woven PET bags) or the manufacture of biodegradable
plastic products. The government is expected to support
enterprises in converting production technology from
conventional plastic to biodegradable plastic materials.
paper production, basic chemical, and trading sectors.
PET is the major contributor to solid waste generation in
food processing, fashion manufacturing, and electronic
equipment sectors. PVC contributes to building materials,
electronic equipment, and civil construction sectors. The
burdens of production to the environment from household
consumption mainly came from four plastic types including
PE (2,943 tons), PP (1,566 tons), PVC (689 tons), and PET
(751 tons). It is necessary to develop policies to manage
plastic waste for each plastic type to ensure that it does not
affect the development of the plastic industry and promote
sustainable consumption towards a circular economy.
COMPETING INTERESTS
The authors declare that there are no conflicts of interest
regarding the publication of this paper.
Different plastic types have different contributions to
economic industries and each plastic has different functions
and consumption characteristics. Therefore, it is necessary
to have policies for the collection and management of plastic
waste for each plastic type to ensure that it does not affect
the development of the plastic industry. For single-use
plastic groups that are often difficult to collect for recycling,
it is necessary to have policies that encourage consumers
to change their usage habits. On the side of the economic
sectors that use this packaging group, it is necessary to have
changes in product design to limit the use of single-use
plastic packaging or to improve or develop longer lifecycle
packaging.
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