50km southeast of Hồ Chí Minh City, Cần Giờ is home to the Cần Giờ Mangrove World Biosphere Reserve – Vietnam’s first World Heritage Site, recognized by UNESCO on January 21, 2000.
Once ravaged by war, the Reserve today is the result of determination and endless efforts of local people over the past 40 years in restoring, protecting and developing Cần Giờ mangrove forest, creating a “green lung” for Ho Chi Minh City.
With the desire to preserve and develop sustainably the “green lung”, the People’s Committee of Hồ Chí Minh City and the People’s Committee of Cần Giờ district have come up with several plans to reduce environmental pollution and restore biodiversity. However, local measures still face many difficulties in terms of resources and approaches, leading to the inability to thoroughly deal with the domestic waste problem. Every year, Cần Giờ district has an average of 15,000 tons of household waste, the rate of plastic use increases by 7-8%/year, of which only 15% is collected and recycled.
With the desire to join a hand in building a circular model of plastic waste through promoting the cooperation of consumers, individual collectors, recycling businesses and local authorities in collection and recyclingl; and collecting feedback on national policies, GreenHub cooperated with Cần Giờ District People’s Committee to implement the project ” Promote Circular Economy Solutions to Reduce Marine Plastic Waste in Can Gio”, with funding from the Global Coca-Cola Foundation.
On behalf of the partner accompanying the project, Mr. Trần Nhựt Hiền, Supply Chain Director, Duy Tân Plastic Recycling Co., Ltd, said: “With the mission of ‘Contributing to reducing environmental pollution from plastic waste’ in Vietnam’, we want to support people to raise their awareness of waste separation at source, improve income for waste collectors, reduce pollution encroachment of plastic waste in Cần Giờ district and effectively implement the circular economy model”.
This project is expected to be implemented until December 2023 with three main parts including: assessment of the current situation of plastic waste in the locality; design solutions and circular economy models, strengthen stakeholder capacity in model implementation and communication to raise awareness, change behavior and promote plastic recycling businesses.
Ms. Saadia Madsbjerg, President of the Global Coca-Cola Foundation, said: “We are proud to support the project and very pleased to have the opportunity to cooperate with partners including Cần Giờ District People’s Committee, Duy Tân Plastic Recycling Co., Ltd and GreenHub to reduce the impact of plastic waste to the coastal areas of Vietnam”.
According to GreenHub Deputy Director Nguyễn Thị Thu Trang, the project will be a pilot model for a new and innovative approach of a circular economy model in plastic waste management in Can Gio. “GreenHub hopes to spread this model to other localities in the future,” she said.
