Belgian company wants to clean up Agent Orange in Vietnam
Belgian company Haemers Technologies has developed an innovative soil decontamination technique. It has shown very positive results on Agent Orange, which still claims victims every year in Vietnam. Haemers now hopes to apply its technique in Hanoi, thanks to a Belgian impact fund.
Agent Orange is a highly toxic defoliant that was widely sprayed on trees and crops by the United States during the Vietnam War in the 1960s and 1970s. Beyond the immediate damage to health and the environment, Agent Orange continues to claim victims 50 years on.
"The dioxins it contains are not biodegradable, and that's the problem with getting rid of it," explains Jan Haemers, CEO of Haemers Technologies.
Vietnam ran a pilot project in 2022, inviting several companies to test their remediation techniques on a former airbase. Haemers' technology was the most successful, heating the soil to vaporise the contaminants. The vapours are then extracted and incinerated at 1,200°C.
Private fund
"We are the only company that has completely cleaned up the land and eliminated the dioxins," says Haemers.
An area the size of Belgium was devastated by Agent Orange in Vietnam. The clean-up is being funded by other countries, including the US. But since president Donald Trump has gutted USAID, Vietnam is looking for other sources of funding.
"The dioxins it contains are not biodegradable, and that's the problem with getting rid of it"
Aquitara, a Belgian private impact fund, could be part of the solution. Aquitara aims to finance Haemer's work in Vietnam while offering "profitability for both victims and investors".
In Vietnam, it is possible to obtain land rights for a certain period of time in exchange for certain investments. According to Haemers, "the fund has already raised enough money to start the works", so all that is needed is the green light from the Vietnamese government.
Belgium has a special connection to the issue, as it was the first country to adopt a resolution in support of Agent Orange victims in 2023. On Thursday, King Philippe and Queen Mathilde met some of those victims on the last day of their state visit to Vietnam.
#FlandersNewsService | © PHOTO KHAM / POOL / AFP
Related news
