Building a network of plastic waste-free schools

On January 27, 2026, the Ministry of Agriculture and Environment held a press conference to announce the Award Ceremony of the ASEAN Vietnam Eco-School Award 2025 - Plastic Waste-Free School, to officially introduce the Award, share orientation, expectations and socio-educational impacts that the program aims for in the new period.

Expectations for the formation of a "School without plastic waste" network

Speaking at the opening of the press conference, Mr. Nguyen Do Anh Tuan - Director of the Department of International Cooperation (Ministry of Agriculture and Environment) affirmed that the ASEAN Eco-School Award is one of the activities within the framework of the ASEAN High-Level Environmental Officials Organization (ASOEN). The ASEAN Secretariat assigns each country to organize, and the winning schools will be honored at side events on the occasion of the ASOEN Conference or the ASEAN Environment Ministers' Meeting.

Regarding the reason for choosing the theme "Schools without plastic waste" for the 2025 Award, plastic is one of the serious sources of environmental pollution, especially ocean plastic waste and microplastics that affect ecosystems and human health. Mr. Tuan said that according to the United Nations report, about 300 million tons of plastic are produced each year, of which a large part is not properly treated, causing negative impacts on the environment and health. Vietnam is one of the countries with the largest amount of plastic waste in Southeast Asia.

In 2025, the number of schools participating in the award increased 3.5 times compared to 2024, with nearly 300 schools participating. We have conducted many campaigns of propaganda and promotion for participating schools, including 60 schools awarded prizes, from primary school to high school," the Director of the Department of International Cooperation (Ministry of Agriculture and Environment) informed.

Notably, the appearance of mountainous provinces, remote and isolated areas such as Lao Cai, Cao Bang, Gia Lai, Dak Lak, Tuyen Quang, Lang Son shows that the Award not only focuses on localities with favorable conditions, but also contributes to encouraging and motivating localities that still face many difficulties to participate in implementing environmental education and the Eco-School model.

The award attracts a variety of types of schools: public, private, inter-level, international, bilingual, meeting the goal of expanding the eco-school model suitable for many types of education and local conditions.

Affirming commitment in the context of increasing plastic pollution

Answering press questions, Prof. Dr. People's Teacher Dang Thi Kim Chi (former Deputy Director of the Institute of Environmental Science and Technology, Hanoi University of Science and Technology) said that the ASEAN Vietnam Eco-School Award 2025 has an important new point in choosing a specific theme "reducing plastic waste", instead of a general approach to environmental protection as before. According to her, this is a direction suitable to global environmental protection requirements, while meeting the commitments and efforts of environmental management agencies in the context of increasing plastic pollution.

According to Prof. Dr. People's Teacher Dang Thi Kim Chi, the noteworthy point of the Award is the enthusiastic participation of many schools in remote and isolated areas, where conditions are still difficult, but teachers and students all show passion and high responsibility for environmental protection activities.

Besides the honoring value, the Award is also associated with long-term maintenance mechanisms, when many schools proactively build funds to continue to implement and expand plastic waste reduction activities, thereby ensuring sustainability for the eco-school model in the following years.