Vietnam’s first asphalt road containing recycled plastics is being constructed at the Deep C Industrial Complex in the northern port city of Hai Phong.

Work on the road’s first 200m-long section began last week and is expected to complete on October 1. The quality of this stretch will be monitored and evaluated before the second section, 1.2km in length, to be developed in November.

Earlier, the plastics were collected, cleaned, dried and shredded before being mixed with the asphalt and melted at high temperature, said Do Quang Hung, Deep C’s first Deputy General Director.

The company wants to pioneer in building and turning industrial zones into eco-industrial parks, he added.

Dow has been present in Vietnam since 1995, serving customers in the consumer care, infrastructure and packaging industries. Advancing a circular economy was identified as one of Dow’s 2025 Sustainability Goals in 2015.

Roads built with recycled plastic demonstrated that plastic waste can be a valuable renewable resource and contribute toward a plastics circular economy. The firm has committed to ending plastic waste, in part by finding innovative ways to transform plastic waste into new products.

DEEP C was founded in 1997 by Belgian and Vietnamese shareholders. It is one of the leading industrial park developers in Vietnam with over 3000 hectares of land and ready-built-factories for lease in Hai Phong and neighbouring Quang Ninh province.

The partnership between Dow Vietnam and Deep C in this project is expected to contribute to advancing a circular economy in Vietnam and developing better end markets for plastic waste./.VNA