Vietnam Footwear and Apparel Value Chain Mapping and Circularity Study

In Vietnam, circular economy, waste treatment and recycling had been regulated in the Law on Environmental Protection (LEP) 2020. The recent establishment of Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) Council to implement the LEP in regulating the importers and manufacturers’ responsibility on waste treatment and recycling, and the introduction of fees collected for different product categories, in particular, synthetic plastic-containing product category (apparel and footwear products included), might help encourage a transformation to a more circular economy. 

This assignment, which was funded by the International Finance Corporation (IFC), aimed to develop a market study to facilitate circular economy practices of the footwear and apparel sector in Vietnam. The primary goal was to find a practical business opportunity for utilizing the circularity of post-manufacturing waste generated by these sectors. Furthermore, the aim was to support the creation of recycling hub(s) or explore other viable engineered solutions that can steer the sector towards a circular approach.

To achieve the objectives of this assignment, conducted activities were setup into three scopes that correspond to the three (3) interim reports: Scope 1 - Detailed post-manufacturing flow analysis of targeted footwear and apparel sectors with value chain mapping and circularity market study; Scope 2 - Targeted regulatory and operational gap analysis; and Scope 3 – Total Investment Market Size.

The project concluded in May 2024, revealing crucial findings on waste generated by Vietnam's apparel and footwear sectors. It provided estimated and projected data on post-manufacturing waste generation for both industries, along with an overview of current treatment methods. The study also included an analysis of the regulatory framework and calculated the estimated investment required for recycling the post-manufacturing waste from these sectors.