Published July 6, 2026
At three schools in Hoàn Kiếm, Hà Nội, the “zero-waste school” model turns sorting, composting and recycling into everyday habits — and into shared enthusiasm for teachers, students and parents.
The Zero-Waste School model has long been implemented at schools in Hoàn Kiếm District, Hà Nội, with the full attention of many parties. Yet this model had not truly realized its full potential, lacking connection and depth in its implementation activities. Faced with the concerns of dedicated teachers who care about the children's future, GreenHub accompanied three school sites: Tràng An, Trần Quốc Toản, and Trưng Vương, continuing the journey of refining and improving the model's effectiveness through a series of in-depth activities closely aligned with reality.
In previous phases, schools in Hoàn Kiếm District had focused on carrying out communication activities and awareness-raising campaigns to change behavior, reaping certain successes with the participation of private enterprises such as Teki Education Company — learning through games; and Xavia — training on turning waste into useful items. Continuing together with GreenHub, the schools, with their prior implementation experience, maintained an effective chain of activities from planning, communication, and promotion, implemented across five themes: energy, waste, water, green space, and air, in order to carry out activities that contribute to protecting, managing, and using energy sources economically and efficiently, reducing waste, and planting, caring for, and protecting greenery...
From there, recycling could also be spread to families through the children's own creative products, encouraging parents to join their children in the phase of exploring and learning skills from the surrounding environment. Success came from efforts to improve on many fronts; Tràng An School has been continuously perfecting the path of waste through the stages of collection, sorting, and recycling, alongside activities of exchanging waste for greenery at many locations across the city. Joining forces with the school site, GreenHub and its team of experts shared how to compost from organic waste with all their enthusiasm, encouraging and supporting the love of nature of the teachers, the school staff, and the children, all joining hands to minimize waste released into the environment.
Accompanying Tràng An Primary School in the zero-waste school model is Trưng Vương Secondary School, located on Hàng Bài Street, Hoàn Kiếm. During the collection process, Trưng Vương Secondary School unexpectedly realized that the volume of non-recyclable waste was 4 to 5 times greater than that of organic waste. This created a considerable challenge in building the path of waste at the school.
Since August 2022, GreenHub has supported Tràng An High-Quality Primary School in successfully organizing thematic training sessions for teachers with an approach, exploitation, and prompting that were renewed while still preserving their value, and in parallel partnering with XAVIA — a companion partner — to run a training tour on producing finished products from recycled materials for the school. Through this activity, teachers and students had the opportunity to experience and witness first-hand the real value of recycled products, while also being equipped with recycling skills that can be applied directly to collective bonding activities such as decorating classrooms... both increasing the effectiveness of waste reduction and integrating a concise, visual message conveyed effectively to the students.
“The school is currently strengthening its activities of collaborating with other organizations. Besides GreenHub, Trưng Vương Secondary School also cooperates with several parties such as the People's Committee of Hoàn Kiếm District, the Department of Natural Resources and Environment, and Vietcycle Joint Stock Company to guide students on how to sort waste themselves, to establish an environmental club, and to create the next path for waste. The school also works with the teachers who teach technology to compost (organic waste) into useful products for the school such as dishwashing liquid, while at the same time educating students in a new skill.” — shared by Ms. Lan Anh, Principal of Trưng Vương Secondary School.
Accompanying the school in the waste-collection event, which was successfully held across the entire school, Ms. Lan Anh shared: “The waste audit activity took place over 5 days; this was an activity that had been planned long in advance. I would also like to thank the GreenHub Center for Supporting Green Development for accompanying the school in calculating the amount of waste and the path of waste.” She also added that the events launched all proceeded very smoothly — firstly thanks to the teachers being of one mind and the parents' support, and secondly because the students were also very enthusiastic in sorting and participating in the work, making the waste-collection activity a true festival day for the whole school.
It can be said that the efforts of the staff and workers at the educational institutions belonging to the Zero-Waste School model have all been duly rewarded with positive figures and a receptive attitude from many parties. The Principal of Tràng An High-Quality Primary School also shared with the project team: “Both the school's teachers and the students have shown clear changes — for example, our students have reduced the use of styrofoam boxes when eating sticky rice in the morning. Many have switched to using personal reusable boxes, reducing a large amount of waste for the school. Many are also very proactive, going home to remind their parents not to use plastic packaging. Moreover, the teachers themselves have significantly changed their habit of using plastic items after the training sessions.” On the side of Trưng Vương Secondary School, Ms. Lan Anh, the school's Vice Principal, also said that besides the change in awareness, the students showed interest and expressed a desire to contribute more to the path of waste after it has been sorted. Many students eagerly stepped forward to help establish an environmental club together with the teachers, as well as contributing initiatives for saving and reusing water at the school…
The zero-waste school model is proof of a driving force nurturing green living for future generations, and it has been inspiring more and more schools in Hoàn Kiếm District, as well as across the entire city of Hà Nội. From small actions with great meaning, the students will love the environment more, be more conscious in sorting and reducing waste, and bring many creative ideas to help protect our beloved Earth.
Not only now but for many years, we have paid great attention to how to create a green, clean, and beautiful environment within the school and to spread the meaning of a useful life and the awareness of protecting the environment to the students, thereby aiming to build the best possible learning and working environment
— Ms. Trần Thị Bích Liên, Principal of Tràng An High-Quality Primary School
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