A partnership between Vietnamese and overseas organisations seeks to improve informal waste workers’ livelihoods and contribute to a greener future.

On March 22, the French IRD hosted the final webinar for the pilot project ‘Enhancing plastic packaging collection, sorting, and recycling in Ho Chi Minh City’.

On March 6, around 50 inhabitants and about 120 students gathered at the beach in Phu Yen’s Xuan Thanh commune to clean the coastal strip of the Xuan Dai Bay of plastics and other marine waste.

Since Michael Brosowski first came to Vietnam, much changed for himself and the many people that he influenced. After two decades, thousands of Vietnamese children, teenagers, and their families have received life-changing support thanks to Brosowski’s efforts, as well as the people that he encouraged to do the same.

A new initiative in Phu Yen has supported the participation of fishers who, in addition to catching fish, now support the community with voluntary collection and segregation of waste collected at sea.

Vietnam, together with Ecuador, Germany, and Ghana, co-chaired the Ministerial Conference on Marine Litter and Plastic Pollution at the World Trade Organization in Geneva in September 2021, where the nation committed to continue paying special attention to urgent issues such as marine litter, plastic consumption, and pollution. Meanwhile, several initiatives in Vietnam are already tackling the issue – among them a cooperation project between Vietnam and the European Union.

On November 26, a consultation meeting was organised on a communication plan of the Alliance of Retailers to Reduce Single-use Plastic Bags, further cementing the plans to tackle Vietnam’s plastic waste with effective and feasible solutions.

On November 24-25, the Training of Trainers course on Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) for packaging was organised online and in person.

There could be more plastic than fish in the ocean by 2050, warned the Ellen MacArthur Foundation five years ago. Today, this warning still holds value if business continues as usual. The G20, inter-regional projects like Rethinking Plastics, and groups of scientists have taken the initiative and are trying their utmost to reduce marine litter and protect the future of our ocean as well as ourselves.

As the world begins its journey into the third decade of the century, Vietnam is prepared to not only continue its emergence as an upper middle-income nation in the next few years but also its endeavour of leading the region in the application of science and technology.