Part 2: Keeping life green amidst plastic waste
The silent consequences of plastic waste from the ocean to the mountains and cities need to be limited and pushed back. To do that, it requires the participation of each individual and the community. Those are the people who proactively bring about a cleaner marine environment; movements to classify waste and turn plastic waste into useful things are being replicated in the community...
Author: PV Group - Publication date: November 1, 2025
The silent consequences of plastic waste from the ocean to the mountains and cities need to be limited and pushed back. To do that, it requires the participation of each individual and the community. Those are the people who proactively bring about a cleaner marine environment; movements to classify waste and turn plastic waste into useful things are being replicated in the community...
With more than 30 years of experience at sea, as captain of two large ships, Mr. Phan Van Hai in Tan Mai ward is very concerned about the marine environment. He said: “Each fishing trip lasts half a month. Every day, we pull the bottom net twice, each batch takes 5 hours. The first thing after collecting the net is not to sort the fish but to pick up trash from the seafood. Countless trash gets caught in the net. Some fish are so entangled in trash that they become disabled. Some batches pull up tons of trash.” Trash is picked up, sorted, and what can be recycled, such as cans, plastic, and nylon, is collected in bags and brought to shore. But only the recyclable part is brought back, but there are trips with tons of trash, the ship cannot carry it all.”
In Cua Lo ward, there are nearly 300 ships and boats of all kinds, and about 300 sampans, of which, hundreds of offshore fishing boats each trip lasts 1-4 days, the amount of household waste of 10-15 crew members is "not small": Beer cans, soft drinks, milk cartons, plastic bags, plastic boxes, instant noodle boxes, food packaging... if thrown directly into the sea, all of those items will go into a dark cycle: floating, entangled in fishing gear, crushed into microplastics by waves, then return to people's dining tables. Just think that the ocean is vast, throwing away a few things is not worth anything. But plastic waste cannot be decomposed, accumulating into mountains of garbage under the ocean," said Mr. Phung Ba Thu - the owner of a pair of large capacity ships. Therefore, the collection of scrap has been carried out by Mr. Thu's fleet for the past 5 years. In addition to the economic value of about 4-5 million VND each year from selling scrap and giving gifts to crew members in difficulty, the most important thing is that this captain has changed the habit of recycling waste and the behavior of crew members towards the ocean.
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Sharing the same awareness of preserving the marine environment and persistently limiting plastic waste from encroaching on the ocean, at 6 a.m. at Cua Hoi Port, a "special" boat regularly starts its engine. Not carrying fishing gear or baskets, on the boat are 6 middle-aged and elderly women and 2 men driving the boat. They do not go fishing. They go to Ngu Island, VinWonders Cua Hoi to collect garbage to bring it to shore. From the beginning of June 2024, every day is the same, regularly as a promise. Ms. Nguyen Thi Long (62 years old) - Head of the Garbage Collection Team said: "Every day, the island has about 5 - 6 cubic meters of garbage. Most of it is plastic bottles, plastic bags, leftover food... After collecting, around 8-9 o'clock, we return to the port, unload, sort, pack, and get the truck to take it for processing. Usually, it takes 12 - 12:30 to finish the job". “Whenever I see trash, my hands automatically reach for the net,” Mai Thi Huong (50 years old) shared. The bamboo nets, the sunburnt arms reaching out on the silver waves, are a practical activity of an environmental sanitation movement that does not need a grand slogan.
At the community level, many movements are organized regularly: "Green Sunday" launched by the Farmers' Association of Cua Lo Ward; "Let's clean the sea" deployed by the Youth Union in coordination with the Border Guard. During the campaigns, green shirts, soldier shirts, and brown farmer shirts mixed together, one hand with gloves, one hand with pliers, one with a racket; garbage from the shore was pulled onto the truck, garbage from the water's edge was shoved into bags; floating garbage was blocked by temporary poles for easy collection...
Nghe An has set a big target for the marine economy by 2030 and beyond. To do so, we must start with small things, with “discipline” on each ship, at each fishing port, on each meter of the dike. When the shore is no longer a dumping ground, when the fishing port is no longer a “home of plastic bags”, when each ship considers garbage as cargo that must be… transported back, when each person at sea “sees garbage and picks it up”, then the GRDP figures will not just be targets on paper…
Not only coastal areas, nowadays, in urban areas, many families have changed their awareness, plastic bags are gradually replaced by paper bags, shockproof foam, and straw and dry leaves are used. Local branded specialties also choose environmentally friendly packaging.
Born and raised in the border commune of Muong Xen, Ms. Vi Thi Hoi is familiar with the agricultural products of the region such as ginger flowers, taro, mustard greens, ginger, mountain cucumbers... Growing up, working in the agricultural trade, since 2024, Ms. Hoi and her husband have sold agricultural products through social networking sites, and have chosen to start with ginger flowers. Ms. Vi Thi Hoi said: Gradually, customers in the province, then further provinces and cities such as Hanoi and Da Nang also placed orders and responded positively. At first, I packaged ginger flowers in plastic bags and vacuumed them, and stored them in the refrigerator to keep the ginger flowers fresh for 5-7 days; then I found a suitable material for preservation, which is wild banana leaves. Banana leaves are readily available here, no need to buy. Using banana leaves to wrap ginger flowers not only maintains the humidity to keep the flowers fresh for a long time, but is also environmentally friendly and cost-effective.
Using banana leaves and wild dong leaves to serve the daily life as well as the holidays and New Year of the ethnic minorities in the highlands has existed for a long time to wrap sticky rice cakes, croissants, and dum nam nhooc,... Nowadays, although society has developed more civilized and modern, the use of natural materials and ingredients still affirms its superiority in people's lives.
Not only using environmentally friendly materials, mothers and sisters are maintaining the movement of using plastic baskets to go to the market, prioritizing the use of plastic bags made from biodegradable, environmentally friendly plastic, and classifying organic and inorganic waste for reuse. Ms. Hoang Thi Ly, in Do Luong commune, said: It has become a habit, every 5 pm she collects her family's waste and brings it to the collection point. One bag is organic waste, one bag is inorganic waste, mainly plastic bags. I have been classifying waste like this for a long time.
Organic waste classification is also a content promoted by women's associations at all levels. Ms. Nguyen Thi Loi - President of the Women's Association of Do Luong commune said that women's associations at all levels have promoted and mobilized members to carry out the movement of "classifying waste at home" for many years. In 2025, with the operation of the local government at two levels, the models of turning waste into breeding animals and collecting waste to raise funds are still maintained by associations at all levels in Do Luong commune.
Ms. Le Thi Chung - Member of the Provincial Women's Union, Deputy Head of the Women's Affairs Department of the Provincial Vietnam Fatherland Front Committee shared: "The most valuable thing about the model is changing the awareness of women - mothers and sisters in the family. When mothers and sisters see the unpredictable consequences of plastic waste that will affect the future of their children and grandchildren, they will change. When they change, they will set an example for the remaining members. This is also a way to educate and change awareness from the root - from within each family."
For more than half a year now, the Sunday toy exchange has become a familiar and anticipated activity for many small families in the central urban areas of Nghe An. The activity was initiated by the Eco Toys Humanity group - fathers and mothers who care about the environment and want to learn how to share and recycle with their children.
At the program, children brought their own unused but still valuable toys, from trucks, cranes, dolls, puzzles, or stuffed animals... These toys will be repaired and cleaned by volunteers, ensuring safety before going to their new owners. Under the guidance of volunteers, children can also freely choose items from this special "booth" to take home. "This activity not only helps children learn how to "recycle", "reuse", and prolong the life cycle of the item, but also significantly reduces the amount of plastic waste from old toys", Mr. Nguyen Van Dung (Thanh Vinh ward) - a parent who accompanied the program shared.
It is known that Nghe An is currently the first location in the country where the Eco Toys Humanity group has implemented this. In early September 2025, with the cooperation of many families, organizations and individuals, the Ecotoys Humanity group organized the donation of thousands of school supplies and toys to children in the highlands at Keng Du 1 Primary School - Ky Son. The journey of renewing old toys has diligently conveyed the message about the environment to thousands of students, from urban to highland areas.
In addition, Nghe An also has the "Green Earth" community, where young fathers and mothers want to join hands with their children to protect the environment. For nearly 10 years, environmental protection activities such as picking up trash and planting trees have been maintained regularly, receiving enthusiastic responses from thousands of members, even spreading to many other groups. Or the young people of the "Garbage Lovers Association" and young Buddhists of Thien Quang Pagoda regularly organize trash pickup at public places in the province. Or the "Nghe An Green" youth group with activities of dredging and cleaning canals, ditches, and lakes in the area for many years now...
The concept of "Buying scrap prices - selling branded goods" is most clearly applied in the profession of repairing and making car mirrors and lights. Here, the workers are likened to having "magic hands," turning a scratched or broken light into a new product to the point that it is difficult for anyone to recognize that it has been "touched up" and resold for millions of dong. During the automobile boom, this is a profession with a lot of potential, when broken or scratched car lights and mirrors due to collisions are restored in value. Even in the central wards of Nghe An, there are streets next to shops providing this service.
Even materials that seem outdated and discarded, such as old car tires, are reborn in value through the craft of making handmade rubber sandals. Although the process of making sandals is not complicated, it requires diligence and high sophistication, from the laborious steps of tearing the tire, fitting the mold, cutting, pulling the strap, gluing the sole and sewing it in place. In Thai Hoa ward, many handmade rubber sandal shops have been maintained for decades and serve customers in and outside the province. With meticulous operations, each day, a worker can make 4-6 sandals, each priced from 250,000 VND or more, depending on the design and size.
Waste resources are also exploited in many other industries and fields such as: Creating recycled toys and teaching aids, making jewelry from plastic pieces, making recycled handbags from instant noodle cartons and plastic fibers cut from bottles. Businesses have proactively posted environmental protection messages; they organize tree exchanges for plastic cups, collect shockproof bags for reuse... That gentle, gradual approach is gradually ingrained in people's awareness and forming green consumption habits.
In the context of Vietnam being one of the countries with the largest plastic waste emissions in the world, the 14th National Assembly passed the Law on Environmental Protection in 2020 with breakthrough contents such as: Legalizing the EPR mechanism, issuing Resolution No. 579/2018/UBTVQH14 stipulating the application of environmental tax rates on plastic packaging... This is the highest legal basis to transform environmental management thinking from "end of the pipeline" to "right from the source".
