Students at the HCM City Open University bring their own bottles and take water from water purification equipment installed on the campus (Photo courtesy of the university) HCM City (VNS/VNA) - Educational institutionsin several provinces and Ho Chi Minh City are encouraging their students andstaff not to use single-use plastic water bottles and straws as part of theUN’s global Beat Plastic Pollution campaign.
An announcement by the HCM City Open University onApril 11 said it plans to stop providing single-use plastic water bottles forlecturers from May 15. They will use their own bottles to fill water providedin staff rooms.
On May 5 it will provide reusable water bottles to alllecturers and other staff.
Bottled water and single-use plastic glasses, dishes,straws, and spoons will not be used at meetings, workshops or conferences fromMay 5.
According to the university, it discards 124,920single-use plastic water bottles used in meetings and events every year.
It is also encouraging its students to bring their ownbottles and use water coolers installed in the campus.
Teachers and students at Hoa Hoi Secondary School inBa Ria-Vung Tau province’s Xuyen Moc district use straws made from citronellaby students Nguyen Thi Bao Ngan and Nguyen Huu Khang.
Their invention won the third prize in the provincialScience Technology Contest for students in 2018-2019.
At Vung Tau High School’s canteen, styrofoam boxes areno longer used for food sold to students.
The school’s students also know they should not useplastic glasses and straws and styrofoam boxes.
Nguyen Van Ba, Deputy Director of the provincialDepartment of Education and Training, told Ba Ria-Vung Tau Online newspaperthat his department instructed all schools in the province last month tominimise the use of single-use plastic products to protect the environment. Itimmediately achieved the intended results, he indicated.
Reusable water bottles have replaced single-use onesat department meetings as instructed by the provincial Party Committee, headded.
At the Ly Tu Trong High School for Gifted Students inthe Mekong Delta city of Can Tho, teachers and students have been encouragednot to use plastic products for the last one year.
Teachers bring their own reusable water bottles toschool and lunch boxes for food they buy near the school.
The school’s Zero Waste Club teaches students how toclassify garbage and sell recyclable waste. The money thus raised is used forthe club’s operation.
According to the UN, each year 500 billion plasticbags are used, 13 million tonnes of plastic leak into the oceans and 17 millionbarrels of oil are used for plastic production.
Globally, a million plastic bottles are bought everyminute and 100,000 marine animals are killed by plastics every year. It takes100 years for plastic to degrade in the environment.
Ninety percent of water bottles are found to containplastic particles as is 83 percent of tap water, 50 percent of consumerplastics are single use and 10 percent of all human-generated waste is plastic.
About half of all of the plastic waste that ends up inthe oceans comes from just five countries: China, Indonesia, the Philippines,Thailand, and Vietnam.
These countries are experiencing rapid economicgrowth, which is reducing poverty rates. But as these economies grow,consumption booms - and so does the use of plastic goods.-VNS/VNA
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