Published June 18, 2026
In a heritage city where plastic waste sometimes reached 100 tonnes a day, “Green Houses” and thousands of women in Hội An are rebuilding the value chain for low-value plastic.
Hội An, the tourist city long known as a destination attracting both domestic and international visitors, has in recent years seen a sudden surge in the number of visitors at many times of the day, leading to difficulties in waste management. This situation has gradually become an urgent problem to solve, so that it may be favorable to continue boosting local tourism and economic development.
Accompanying the city of Hội An, the project team received initial statistics over the years, and after thorough analysis we grasped the general context before proceeding to implement the necessary models. We paid particular attention to the results of the waste composition survey: on an average day, single-use plastic waste and nylon bags account for about 15-23% of the total waste generated in Hội An, while the peak waste volume rose to 65.5 tonnes/day in 2013 and 100 tonnes/day in the same period of 2019.
Faced with these alarming figures and the direct impact of waste on the quality of life of local residents, causing a series of socio-economic problems. The city of Hội An decided to issue many policies on reducing plastic waste, while actively raising awareness and calling for joint action and support from the community.
Becoming one of the three cities in the project “Reducing plastic waste pollution through local solutions,” enthusiastically supported by the People's Committee of Hội An City, GreenHub and IUCN partnered with the City Women's Union to deploy a collection, sorting, and recycling model named: “Green House.” The model has been in operation since July 2022 and to date has achieved notable results, with the estimated volume of low-value waste collected and recycled reaching 5.3 tonnes. In the process, 1,801 kg of can shells, 2,312 kg of paper, 3,057 kg of scrap iron, and plastic bottles were also collected and sorted, through effective communication and coordinated implementation with the locality under the management of the Hội An City Women's Union.
Sharing with the project team, Mr. Nguyễn Thế Hùng, Vice Chairman of the People's Committee of Hội An City, commended the spirit of the Women's Union members:
Mr. Hùng also stressed and called for the coordination of management units together with related parties in jointly supporting the sustainable development of the model in the future.
In parallel with the “Green House” model activities, with the desire to strive for a comprehensive result, classes on Plastic & Health were successfully organized with the positive reception of more than 1,500 Women's Union members in the area joining, discussing, and thereby building a strong communication channel and issuing a set of materials on how to operate the model to achieve spreading effectiveness in the local community. The model connecting the value chain of low-value recycled plastic waste in Hội An City is a typical success story in the current context of change that requires joining forces. In our role of accompanying and supporting, we realized that the ingredient creating the influence of a collective comes from shared belief and timely reward and encouragement, so that the project team or the Women's Union, and so on, can continuously move forward, conquering the intractable problem at the local level. Because on that journey we will always have a companion by our side.
The volume of plastic waste collected and recycled is still modest at the outset, but it carries an enormous significance. The role of women is extremely important — one could say it is the decisive factor in reducing plastic waste in the community.
— Mr. Nguyễn Thế Hùng, Vice Chairman of the People's Committee of Hội An City
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