Dialogue with the youth on reducing plastic waste pollution

At the dialogue session "Youth and businesses take action to reduce plastic waste pollution in Vietnam", Dr. Duong Thi Phuong Anh, Institute of Strategy and Policy on Natural Resources and Environment (MONRE) said: There are no official statistics, but it is estimated that plastic waste accounts for 10-12% of domestic solid waste, an estimation of 2.6–2.8 million tons of plastic waste in 2019 and a large amount of which was floating in rivers, lakes, wetlands, estuaries and coastal areas. Each household usually uses 5-7 plastic bags / day; On average, Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City waste about 80 tons of plastic and plastic bags per day. 80% of marine plastic waste comes from land. Vietnam is one of the top 5 countries in the amount of plastic waste dumped into the sea with 0.28-0.73 million tons / year.

Young people express their opinions and suggestion on reducing plastic waste

“In this situation, the National Strategy for integrated solid waste management to 2025, with a vision to 2050, has set a target by 2025: Using 100% environmentally friendly plastic bags in Shopping malls, supermarkets as well as for living purposes as a substitute for persistent plastic bags. Also, restrict and proceed to end the import, production and supply of hard-to-decompose plastic bags in those above-mentioned places from 2026”, said Mrs. Duong Thi Phuong Anh.

Under the organization of For Vietnamese Stature (VSF) and Vietnam Business for Environment (VB4E), the dialogue was held on October 17th with the participation of representatives from government agencies, non-governmental organizations, firms and the youths, including students from 2 projects "Youth for Environment" and “DynaGen Initiative”, and many young people dedicated to environmental protection. The dialogue was to promote cooperation between businesses, youth and stakeholders, from which, appropriate ideas would be taken to reduce plastic waste pollution.

Participating in the dialogue, experts showed the current situation and challenges in plastic waste management in Vietnam, trends and motivation for businesses to participate in environmental protection and plastic waste minimization. At the same time, the Ambassador of Blue Ocean (awarded by the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment), Mr. Nguyen Viet Hung, also shared the nearly 7,000km journey of “hunting” plastic waste in 28 coastal provinces of Vietnam.

Businesses talked with young people about actions on protecting the environment

During the discussing time, many young people showed their views and proposed ideas to tackle plastic waste pollution as well as looking for opportunities to cooperate with businesses and stakeholders. They also expressed interest in businesses' performance in business, internal communications, environmental protection projects and activities, employee incentives or difficulties in implementing those programs ... Representatives of businesses from Hanoi Associatioin for Women Entrepreneurs, Tetra Pak Group, TH Group, SriThai Vietnam Co., Ltd. answered and shared the model of reducing plastic waste, difficulties, advantages and business strategy for the next 3-5 years.

The dialogue opened opportunities to connect between businesses and stakeholders, including young people. Through this, ideas will be made into actions, businesses will improve their action in environmental protection and create a collective strength to contribute to solving environmental challenges, plastic waste and sustainable development in Vietnam.