Honoring Hue students’ initiatives to reduce plastic waste

Student-led initiatives to reduce plastic waste are helping to spread a strong message of green living within the education sector.

On April 22, the “Hue - A Plastic-Reduced Smart City in Central Viet Nam” project (WWF-Viet Nam), in partnership with the Hue City Department of Education and Training, held an awards ceremony for the “Global citizens, Leading plastic reduction” competition, honoring outstanding initiatives by lower secondary school students

The competition aims to raise awareness, empower students, and encourage them to proactively propose solutions for waste sorting at source and reducing plastic use within schools.

Launched in February 2026 with a training program titled “Teachers accompanying global citizens in leading plastic reduction”, the initiative attracted more than 85 school representatives. Over the following two months, it gained strong momentum throughout Hue City, engaging 60 lower-secondary schools, more than 100 teachers, and around 500 students.

Entries featured a wide range of creative approaches, combining visual, audio, and video materials with recycled and technology-based solutions. The ideas were diverse, innovative, and engaging, reflecting the students’ creativity and strong commitment.

To further support idea development, the organizers increased the number of funded projects from 10 to 18. Students turned their ideas into practical actions, contributing to the development of plastic-reduced school models. As a result, 18 outstanding teams were selected for the implementation phase.

Reflecting on the initiative, Ms. Hoang Ngoc Tuong Van, the Project Manager, said: “Every meaningful change begins with small actions, and students and teachers are driving that change in schools. We are proud of their initiative and creativity. These ‘global citizens’ are helping steer Hue toward a more sustainable future, and we hope their efforts will continue to grow and spread across schools and communities”.

At the awards ceremony, the venue also featured an exhibition of student projects, where ideas were transformed into practical models and tangible outputs. Developed by the 18 finalist teams, these included recycled items, communication models, and student-designed educational materials.

Representatives of the top three teams also took the stage to present their projects, sharing their implementation processes and the positive impacts achieved.

The event not only honored outstanding individuals and teams but also provided a valuable platform for the education sector to draw lessons and build a solid foundation to sustain and scale up the “Plastic-Reduced Schools” model across Hue City in the coming academic years.

Van Dinh