[Hanoi] “Vietnam, the Plastic Challenge” workshop and Dutch Drinks
On 19 April 2019, the “ Vietnam, the plastic challenge” workshop and monthly Dutch Drinks was successfully organised by the Dutch Business Association in Vietnam (DBAV) and attracted more than 20 participants joined that are entrepreneurs and professionals working in the environmental field. The topic was shared by Marije Kock, honoured guest speaker of the event, on the ways to reduce, reuse and recycle the plastic consumption. The workshop was opened by fascinating quizzes by Marije to rouse her guests and also broaden the understanding of plastic. In the second part of the presentation, the question “why there is so much plastic on the ocean?” was emphasized and microplastic was introduced. Marije also pointed out the amount of plastic waste from all over the world dumped into the ocean every year, and specifically, the number from Vietnam with critical caused factors: the under development of plastic treatment while the increasing demand of plastic consumption. At the end of the day, initiatives to reduce, reuse and recycle were proposed, along with the number of awareness campaigns were undertaken by NGOs to foster global cooperation in plastic reduction. To wrap-up, Marije shared a short story of her start-up, Upp! UpCyclingPlastic, and its success in creating and developing new materials for construction works. During the workshop, the group tasks were given on reading and presenting the plastic life-cycle, following up by the Q&A session. All the raised questions and ideas were actually shown the concerns and engagement of the attendances to the topic.