The campaign was launched by the Institute of Strategy and Policy on Agriculture and Environment (ISPAE) - Ministry of Agriculture and Environment and the Hanoi Department of Industry and Trade in coordination with Unilever Vietnam, Pacific Environment Organization (PE), Vietnam Golden Star Fund (VSF) and especially the participation of member enterprises of the Union of retailers reducing the consumption of plastic bags.
The campaign marks the third year that Vietnam has responded to the International Day of New Year's Day - marked on July 3 every year, initiated by the bag-free world initiative (Bag Free World Initiative) and deployed on an international scale since 2009. The goal is to encourage consumers to reduce the use of plastic bags and promote environmentally friendly solutions to replace plastic bags, thereby contributing to reducing plastic waste pollution.
Many green check-in activities at TH true mart
During the event, 10 TH true mart stores in Hanoi will have meaningful activities, especially encouraging customers to carry personal bags to minimize single-use bags. Customers who do not use the store's plastic bags to contain the product will have the opportunity to receive a product promotion. Standee and the handheld hashtag are provided at the store with many impressive messages about quick classification - green consumption - reducing waste so that consumers can "check-in", contributing to spreading the campaign.
At the two leading TH true mart stations in Hanoi at 6 Trang Tien and 34 Hoang Quoc Viet, booths were also set up and artistic photos were taken on July 3. Specifically, activities take place at store No. 6 Trang Tien from 8:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. and store No. 34 Hoang Quoc Viet from 2:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. Customers are free to pose for photos with the hashtag held handily at the booth and are helped by a professional photographer to record moments of accompanying businesses and express personal responsibility to the community.
In addition, there are mini games on the TH true mart fanpage channel (https://www.facebook.com/thtruemart) with a prize of shopping voucher; the "Red plastic hair - Live green" contest for customers who post photos or videos on their personal pages with stories and messages about the Day of No Use of Newspaper bags in particular and the theme of reducing plastic waste - protecting the environment in general.
Notably, customers can view the Photo Exhibition on the topic of reducing plastic waste and protecting the environment at TH true mart No. 6 Trang Tien and 34 Hoang Quoc Viet. The photos were selected from the photo series "Plastic Tale of River" by author Truong Dai Duong.
TH Group: pioneer in sustainable consumption and circular economy
Although convenient, disposable plastic and plastic bags are causing great danger to the environment and marine life, negatively affecting the global economy and society. In Vietnam, according to survey data in March 2021 conducted by the Institute of Strategy and Policy on Agriculture and Environment (formerly the Institute of Strategy and Policy on Natural Resources and Environment) and its partners, the number of plastic bags used once at supermarkets is about 104,000 bags/day, equivalent to 38 million plastic bags/year. On average, each supermarket consumes about 1,454 plastic bags/day. These are worrying figures and have a serious impact on the environment.
Recognizing the serious risks of plastic waste to the environment, many legal documents of the state have been issued at different levels.
In 2021, the Union of retailers reducing plastic bag consumption, with the participation of 16 retailers, was established, and one of the pioneering enterprises is TH Group, the owner of the TH true MILK Clean Fresh Milk brand, with a system of nearly 400 TH true mart stores nationwide.
Not only pioneering in making fresh milk glasses from Vietnamese copper and developing high-tech agriculture, TH Group is considered a leading enterprise in finding and applying environmentally friendly consumer solutions, using renewable biological materials, creating a positive impact on the awareness and actions of consumers, the business community as well as the public about sustainable consumption.
Since 2018, TH true mart has been one of the first retail systems in Vietnam to completely end the use of plastic bags, replace them with biological bags, then take another step forward to encourage consumers to use sustainable canvas bags.
Along with that, TH Group deploys a series of environmentally friendly consumer solutions from the smallest details. Since October 2018, TH is the first and only enterprise in the dairy industry to use yogurt spoons made from materials mainly from plant starch, safe for users' health, replacing spoons made from plastic PE. From 2022, TH will reduce the number of tablespoons with yogurt products by 50%.
Accompanying the commitment of the Vietnamese Government to the Net Zero goal by 2025 as well as implementing the extended responsibility of manufacturers (EPR), TH's fresh milk, beverage, and herbal processing plants have implemented many initiatives to reduce plastic and gain double benefits: both reducing plastic waste and saving costs. Since 2021, TH true WATER purified water products with different resolutions have stopped using plastic film on bottle caps. Other solutions include: reducing the thickness of bottle labels, reducing the weight of plastic bottles; reducing the thickness of milk product envelope.
With practical actions, TH Group has cut about 600 tons of plastic and saved tens of billions of VND per year. TH Group and TH true mart store chain also made a strong impression with the "Collisioning box shells - spreading green life" campaign held annually since 2022. From discarded milk cartons, TH cooperates with units to collect, recycle, and produce useful and environmentally friendly products such as cardboard boxes, paper bags, notebooks, hangers, plant pots, ecological roofing sheets, tables and chairs, etc.
TH is also a co-founder of environmental alliances such as the Packaging Recycling Alliance - PRO Vietnam, the Vietnam Business Alliance for the Environment - VB4E... to connect efforts between businesses in environmental protection, reducing plastic waste, promoting a circular economy.
List of TH true mart stores implementing a series of activities in response to the 2025 plastic bag-free campaign
Except for the spot art photography activity, the remaining activities take place continuously on days from June 29 to July 3 between 7:00 am and 9:00 pm. The number of promotional gifts is limited, the program may end earlier than expected. Contact details for staff at the point of sale.
