Seminar on sharing the results and experiences of “Plastic Bag Free Day” 2024 in Viet Nam.

On July 30, 2024, the Institute of Strategy and Policy on Natural Resources and Environment (ISPONRE) in collaboration with WWF-Vietnam and IUCN organized a seminar titled “Promoting solutions to reduce Single-Use Plastics: From practice to policy,” with representatives from government agencies, Non-Governmental Organizations, businesses, retailers, etc. This event was a summary of the International Plastic Bag Free Day 2024, initiated by the ISPONRE and the Hanoi Department of Industry and Trade.

Mr. Nguyen Trung Thang, Deputy Director of ISPONRE, delivered the opening speech at the seminar: “Thanks for the relentless efforts from Plastic Alliance members towards to eliminate plastic pollution and reduce the use of non-degradable plastic bags in Viet Nam. We believe that with the strong commitments from retailers, supermarkets, shopping centers, and other partners, we will collectively contribute to the national, regional, and global efforts towards developing the Global Plastic Treaty.”

The 2024 campaign was held from June 29 to July 3, 2024, with the message “Reducing plastic bags, Nourishing the seeds of life” and involved the cooperation of the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, WWF-Vietnam, the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) through the Vietnam Business for Environment Alliance (VB4E), the For Vietnamese Stature Foundation (VSF), and the Pacific Environment Organization. Retailers participating in the campaign included the entire LOTTE Mart supermarket system, AEON Vietnam department stores and supermarkets nationwide, 10 TH true mart stores, Big C Thang Long, 4 MM Mega Market centers in Hanoi, as well as the Co.op Mart system in Phu Yen, Kien Giang, Quang Tri, Quang Binh, Ha Tinh, and the GO! supermarket system and Hoa Tho shopping center in Da Nang.

Throughout the campaign, the organizing committee held many communication activities to raise community awareness about the harmful effects of plastic bags and single-use plastics. These activities included mini-games with questions and answers about plastic waste knowledge, such as “Learn while playing, play while learning,” the “Lucky Wheel,” visits to the “Blue Ocean Photo Studio,” messages to the future, and an online competition on social media to convey the message “Reducing plastic bags, Nourishing the seeds of life”

After many days of reviewing numerous high-quality submissions, the judging of the “Reducing plastic bags, Nourishing the seeds of life” competition finally selected the best entries that met the contest’s criteria to award prizes. The awards included: 1 First Prize, 2 Second Prizes, 3 Third Prizes, 10 Consolation Prizes, and 1 Interaction Prize. In addition, for the authors who did not win the prize, to thank you for your interest, time to participate in the contest and spread positive actions in protecting the environment, the Organizing Committee decided to give you a gift worth 200,000 VND

In just five days, the campaign received significant community interest, reflected in impressive figures such as:

• More than 30 news outlets covered the “No Plastic Bag Day in Vietnam” campaign activities.
• Over 17,000 people nationwide accessed information related to the campaign on social media platforms.
• A total of more than 166,400 bags, equivalent to nearly 2.5 tons of plastic bags, were reduced.
• More than 1,430 visitors attended event booths at AEON Mall Long Bien, TH true mart Tràng Tiền, and Big C Thang Long.
• Nearly 1,000 inspirational stories about environmental protection were submitted through both direct (at event booths) and online (via social media platforms) channels.

In the future, members of the Retailers Alliance to Reduce Plastic Bags will continue to implement activities to reduce plastic bags and single-use plastics. Specifically, LOTTE Mart will continue to run a program to give away environmentally friendly bags to customers across the system to help change customer awareness and behavior. Central Retail will promote the benefits of using environmentally friendly bags, encourage customers to use boxes for packing, train cashiers to advise customers during checkout, set reward targets for cashiers who sell the most Lohas/GO bags in a month, and place additional cardboard boxes at checkout counters. AEON Vietnam is also striving to expand the scope of its “Plastic Bag Free Day” program to all department stores and supermarkets nationwide on the first Monday of each month at cashless checkout counters.

As a pioneer in sustainable development, TH true mart stores of the TH Group replaced single-use plastic bags with biodegradable bags made from environmentally friendly materials such as sugarcane and corn husks many years ago. Even though biodegradable bags are more environmentally friendly and decompose easily compared to plastic bags, TH limits their distribution to consumers. Instead, TH encourages customers to use and reuse canvas bags, aiming to significantly reduce plastic bag waste. Through these efforts, in 2023, the TH true mart system reduced its bag usage by 34% compared to the average consumption, saving more than 38.2 tons of biodegradable bags.