20th GCSM

October 9 – 11, 2024
Ho Chi Minh City / Binh Duong, Vietnam

20th Global Conference on Sustainable Manufacturing

Vietnamese-German University (Host)

In October 2024, three of our project members participated in the 20. Global Conference on Sustainable Manufacturing (GCSM) at the Vietnamese-German University in Ho Chi Minh City. This international exchange was organized by the Technical University of Berlin, the Frauenhofer IPK and the Vietnamese-German University, among others, and this year focused on value chains in production.

Part of our team was Dr. Thomas Potempa, who spoke about the determination of the recyclability of plastics as a function of age under the title “End of Recyclability – considering the ageing of plastic materials and its implication on potential circularity”, Dr. Dinh Quynh Oanh, who presented a study on the analysis of fishing gear ‘Characterization of virgin and used fishing gear from Vietnam’ carried out during the train-the-trainer program, and Julia Tetzner, who presented a value chain adapted to fishing gear in Vietnam under the title ‘Waste to value process chain for recycling of fishing gear collected from coastal waters’. These papers will be published by Springer-Verlag as part of a conference publication in order to promote the scientific exchange in these fields.

The conference did not only provide our project members with interesting insights into projects related to sustainable production, but also promoted international as well as Vietnamese exchange, which is of crucial importance for the implementation of a functioning recycling system for fishing gear in Vietnam. We are pleased to have participated in this scientific and future-oriented exchange and to be able to raise awareness in Vietnam about the recycling of fishing nets and its potential.