HÀ NỘI — Vissai Cement Corporation, part of Vissai Group, officially launched the QuickFill® Clean (QFC) eco-friendly cement paper bags on Monday at the Vissai Ninh Bình cement plant.

The QFC cement sacks are produced by leading Swedish packaging company BillerudKorsnäs.

“Vissai has studied and tested many types of cement sacks produced in different countries for both the domestic and export market. However, BillerudKorsnäs’ product is by far the most competitive in terms of technology and cost,” Vissai’s deputy general director Nguyễn Tiến Đạt told Việt Nam News.

In April 2017, Vissai and BillerudKorsnäs signed a Letter of Intent on QuickFill® Clean cement paper sacks, positioning Vissai as a pioneer in adopting the eco-friendly packaging product for Việt Nam’s cement sector.

Under the agreement, Vissai will become the only unit to use BillerudKorsnäs cement packaging in Việt Nam for a period of two years.

The current use of KPK sacks in Việt Nam is estimated to cause economic losses due to leakage during the packaging and transportation process. This leakage means that cement producers regularly have to pack extra cement in every 50kg bag to ensure the correct amount reaches the final consumers. This leakage is also a threat to cement factory workers, construction site workers and the environment.

“One of the biggest advantages of the QFC paper sack is that it is very clean and doesn’t waste cement like the current packaging used in Việt Nam, resulting in significant financial saving for the company. Besides this, it is also advantageous for workers because they don’t have to breathe the cement dust,”Mark van der Merwe, BillerudKorsnäs business development director - sack solutions, told Việt Nam News.

With the widespread use of new high-porous paper cement bags worldwide, cement leakage can be virtually eliminated, minimising economic losses and worker and environmental hazards. However, these new solutions also require changes in the handling of sacks throughout the supply chain.

“Paper sacks have been used in many of the neighbouring countries such as Thailand and Indonesia for many years, so they know how to handle them. However, in Việt Nam, workers used to be familiar with handling the plastic sacks with the hooks. So the paper sacks that we are introducing in Vietnamese market are 70 per cent stronger than the sacks we use in Indonesia and Thailand,” Stefan Andersson, BillerudKorsnäs’s technical service manager – sacks solutions told Việt Nam News.

According to the 2015-35 plan, Việt Nam’s cement industry will grow at a rapid rate of some 10 per cent annually. With large-scale investment in the infrastructure sector, expected financial expenditure is above US$100 billion.

With the rapid development of the cement industry, the use of green packaging is considered one of the most effective solutions to ensure safety of workers and minimise environment pollution. — VNS