In February, Pacific Environment hosted a weeklong zero waste workshop in Vietnam. With over 80 participants from NGOs, government and industry around Vietnam and Asia Pacific, participants shared lessons learned from the zero waste movement in different contexts, and explored opportunities and fundraising for the important work ahead. 

To kick off Earth Month, I wanted to share the origins of the zero waste movement in Vietnam, current opportunities and challenges Vietnam is facing related to waste, and key takeaways on best practices from the workshop.

What is zero waste? 

The concept of zero waste first emerged in the 1980s out of Berkeley, California, transforming into a movement gaining global traction in the 2000s. Zero waste conferences, alliances and networks began emerging around the world to push back against the growing waste problem, and in particular, plastic pollution. 

Zero waste is characterized by a fundamental focus on the conservation of all resources through responsible production, consumption, reuse and recovery of all packaging and materials — without resorting to incineration or disposal into land, water or air in ways that could harm the environment or human health. In short, zero waste aims to redesign resource lifecycles so that materials are reused and waste — both volume and pollution — is minimal. 

This new concept of zero waste was first introduced in Vietnam in 2017 when Pacific Environment and GAIA collaborated on a zero waste kickoff workshop (though it’s important to note that reuse, refill and recycling have always existed in Vietnam). At the time, I was still working for the Da Nang government, but I was excited to bring this concept to Vietnam. I collaborated with a small group of other citizens who were deeply concerned about the growing waste issue to form the Vietnam Zero Waste Alliance, with support from Pacific Environment to kickstart the project. 

After nearly eight years, the alliance now has 10 core members and 25 other member organizations, and thanks to the efforts of these groups, zero waste practices have been adopted in many provinces around the country in different sectors ranging from tourism to health care. This movement impacts many members of society: Different groups including citizens, students, teachers and tourism service providers. are now all active leaders in the zero waste movement. 

Progress and challenges with zero waste in Vietnam

While zero waste was formally introduced in 2017, Vietnam has a long history of reuse that predates this new concept of zero waste. Before 1990 — the time when plastic and single-use products became popular in Vietnam — reuse was widely practiced in rural areas. For example, we used glass bottles to refill wine, fish-sauce, vinegar or oil, and other common goods. There were also many waste pickers that collected recyclable waste (e.g., broken glass, unused plastic products, duck/swan hairs, iron, metals, aluminum and paper) for recycling.

But now, the country continues to face challenges from increased amounts of single-use plastic products, such as sachets. Sachets are single-use pouches or packets, often made of plastic, and sometimes mixed materials such as paper and metal, used across Asia to sell small portions of basic goods from shampoo and detergent, to instant coffee, soy sauce or on-the-go snacks at low prices. In Vietnam, and across Asia, these single-use packets from major companies like Unilever, can be found littering the ground and clogging waterways across the country. 

Vietnam also faces challenges stemming from globalization of commodity markets and waste streams. Like many countries in Southeast Asia, Vietnam receives staggering amounts of imported plastic waste from the Global North — waste that is supposedly going to be recycled but often is dumped or burned. In fact, Vietnam is the second largest recipient of waste imports globally, just after Malaysia. 

It is in this challenging but immensely hopeful context that the zero waste movement has become increasingly popular in Vietnam. Nowadays, “new” zero waste systems take many forms in Vietnam: we now see local co-ops with bulk refill bins for essentials like food and cleaning supplies and zero waste school models. Vietnam continues to be an ambitious leader in the zero waste movement. You can learn more about reuse systems to replace packaging like sachets across Asia here.

Zero waste is also being addressed in the policy making process; and waste prevention measures have been included in the Law on Environment Protection 2020, in bylaws and in new measures for extended producer responsibility. Vietnam recently developed the National Action Plan for Circular Economy by 2035, an ambitious plan to shift the country toward sustainable production and consumption models, reducing waste and enhancing environmental protection. Strategies to achieve this target include reduction of single-use plastics, advanced waste sorting and landfill reduction. 

These ambitious goals are already being put into practice, with sectoral roadmaps — from education to tourism — seeking to limit single-use plastics. Currently, over 100 schools nationwide have adopted the Plastic Waste Free Schools Model, integrating waste reduction and recycling into their curricula to foster environmental responsibility among students. 

Key learnings from the workshop 

We hosted the workshop “Mobilizing Resources for Zero Waste Implementation” in collaboration with the Center for Sustainable Development Promotion (BUS), the Global Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives (GAIA), the Union of Science and Technology Associations of Da Nang (DUSTA). The annual meeting also marked the fourth meeting of the Vietnam Zero Waste Alliance (VZWA), which Pacific Environment and GAIA helped found in 2017. 

More than 80 participants gathered in Da Nang for a zero waste workshop, with the purpose of strengthening commitments and mobilizing sustainable financial resources for the implementation of Zero Waste cities in Vietnam and the Asia Pacific region. “Zero waste cities” are exactly what they sound like: cities that focus on preventing waste from being generated in the first place, rather than solely relying on end-of-pipe solutions like landfills or incineration. 

“Although Da Nang has been considered a livable city for many years, we still have many issues to take care of. The first thing is that we need human resources to handle many waste problems and to build Da Nang city into an environmental city, a livable city,” said Nguyen Dinh Phuc,  Vice President of the Union of Science and Technology Associations of Da Nang. 

One of the most highly anticipated activities of the workshop was a field visit to two solid waste management models in Hoa Bac Commune and Hoa Hiep Nam Ward, where participants were able to interact with a zero waste model directly. They also had the opportunity to visit the Material Recovery Facilities (MRF) Station in central Vietnam, where waste is efficiently sorted and recycled. 

Additionally, the workshop facilitated knowledge sharing across the region. Experts from countries such as the Philippines and Indonesia spoke about building and sustaining zero waste models and provided context for tailoring zero waste models for different communities. 

What participants had to say

Froilan Gate
Asia Pacific Regional Coordinator and Executive Director, GAIA Philippines

Nicholas James Malos
Vice President of Conservation, Ocean Plastics, Ocean Conservancy

Maria Mercedes Ferrer
Co-convenor, War on Waste (WOW) Negros Oriental

I hope that through this workshop, momentum for zero waste will continue to grow and that the movement will be accurately understood, fully embraced and supported with the necessary resources. This will enable cities and provinces across Vietnam, including Da Nang, to tackle waste pollution in the most effective and sustainable way, contributing to a truly green, clean and livable future that can serve as a model for other communities, cities and countries around the world. Thank you for continuing to follow along and support our work.