Practical solutions found to combat waste pollution

Students came up with several innovative solutions to reduce plastic waste pollution

Discarded plastics are littering cities, rivers, and oceans, contributing to health problems in humans and animals worldwide and creating unprecedented and environmental damage. Plastic production is increasing in a world unable to deal with this problem. The problem is more pressing than ever due to the increase of single-use plastic consumption during COVID-19.

In light of the growing concerns of plastic waste and environmental pollution, Vietnamese students have dedicated time and effort to design practical solutions to solve some real-world problems during the eProjects Innovation Showcase.

Students from Lac Hong University in Dong Nai province have created a new packaging design for the e-commerce industry to reduce plastic waste. Another group of students from Can Tho University proposed a unique solution to sort plastic waste. Meanwhile, students from the Ho Chi Minh City University of Technology and Education have developed a solution to prevent chewing gum litter. Other students have brought up the ideas of reusing construction materials and building a platform for plastic waste management.

Over the past semester, students have developed their prototypes through regular consultation with professional mentors, who set out a vision for each project, shared their technical expertise, and regularly met with the students. Thanks to the efforts, some solutions are highly appreciated by leaders as they are feasible to roll out in practice.

eProjects is an engineering innovation programme during which faculty and industry mentors guide teams to address an industry-proposed problem statement by implementing a student-led project. During eProjects, teams learn the hard and soft skills needed to become a professional engineer, including hard skills like designing, building, and testing a prototype and soft skills like team and project management.

The showcase was a part of USAID BUILD-IT and the Dow Vietnam Stem Programme which has been carried out for four years. According to Bradley Bessire, USAID Vietnam’s acting mission director, these applied projects demonstrate how the BUILD-IT Alliance links industry expertise with universities’ teaching capacity to give students experiences that develop both the technical and soft skills they will need to succeed in Vietnam’s ever more advanced workforce.

Students present solutions to address the pressing enviromental issue of plastic waste