HA NOI — This month Nam Son waste treatment complex, located in Ha Noi's Soc Son District, will initiate a project to generate power using industrial waste.

The project - the first of its kind in Viet Nam - will include the construction of an incinerator to handle 75 tonnes of industrial waste per day such as rubber, leather, plastic and cloth waste from factories and waste from mills and mines.

It will be equipped with an exhaust fume treatment system and heat recovery system connected to an electricity generator.

The project, worth US$29.2 million with US$22.5 million funded by Japan through the Viet Nam Green Aid Programme, relies on advanced waste treatment technology and has a daily capacity of 75 tonnes. The energy recovered will be used to generate power with an expected capacity of 1,930kWh, thus helping reduce greenhouse effects.

The project will be carried out by the Ha Noi Urban Environment Company (URENCO) and Japanese Hitachi Zonsen. The facility is expected to be operational by 2014, at which point the project will be expanded to other cities and provinces in Viet Nam.

According to the Ha Noi Natural Resources and Environment Department, the city discharges 750 tonnes of industrial waste per day, 60 per cent of which is dumped in the city's outskirt areas. — VNS