Belgian firm to clean up Agent Orange in Vietnam
A Belgian company specialising in sustainable soil remediation has been granted permission by the Vietnamese government to clean up land contaminated with Agent Orange. The Belgian impact fund Aquitara is providing the funding.
Agent Orange is a chemical defoliant that was used on a large scale by the United States during the Vietnam War, more than 50 years ago. Even today, hundreds of thousands of people are still affected by the consequences, for example because the soil is contaminated with dioxins.
Haemers Technologies and Aquitara have now received approval from the Vietnamese government to remediate contaminated land. Initially, this involves an area of 1 square kilometre, and the remediation is expected to take four years. More undertakings will follow.
Haemers Technologies decontaminates the soil using a heating process. The heat causes the contamination to evaporate and the vapours are captured and incinerated. “This is the first time a Belgian technological solution has been deployed on an industrial scale for the remediation of Agent Orange in Vietnam,” the company said.
The investment fund Aquitara will finance the works. In return, it will be granted land which it will develop into industrial zones. The sale of this land will provide the fund with the necessary return on investment. In addition, the launch of micro-grocery shops will also be financed for around 100 families who are victims of Agent Orange.
The partners have been working on the project for some time. In 2022, there was a pilot project in Vietnam in which companies were able to test their remediation techniques. “We are the only company that has, on the one hand, fully cleaned the soil and, on the other, removed the dioxins,” Haemers said previously.
At a diplomatic level, the project received a boost during King Philippe and Queen Mathilde’s state visit to Vietnam in April 2025, when they met victims of Agent Orange.
#FlandersNewsService | Illustration © PHOTO AFP / HOANG DINH NAM
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