It was one of the ways chosen by the kindergarten’s managers and teachers to create awareness of and habits for environmental protection.

“Educating children in environmental protection will help … when they become adults,” Phạm Thị Kim Hạnh, the kindergarten’s vice principal, told Việt Nam News.

The kindergarten’s teachers were working together with children’s parents to teach them, she said.

The cartons collected at the kindergarten would be transported once a week to factories for recycling and making useful products such as paperboard boxes, notebooks, tiles, and dustbins, she said.

The kindergarten is one of 30 schools in the city selected for piloting a milk carton recycling programme called “Một giây hành động, bảo vệ môi trường” (One second of action to protect the environment).

After the pilot phase, the programme will be extended to more schools in the city as well as other localities across the country.

It is carried out by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources’ Youth Union and Tetra Pak, the Swedish-owned global supplier of packaging products.

Messages promoting environmental protection will also be included in main and extracurricular activities in the participating schools.

Jeffrey Fielkow, managing director of Tetra Pak Vietnam, said: “Our expectation is that all used cartons will be collected and recycled into useful products following the circular economy model.”

A circular economy involves a closed production process in which all the materials and wastes are reused or recycled to become new production materials, thus helping reduce the impact on the environment while protecting human health.

“Một giây hành động, bảo vệ môi trường” is a socially impactful programme that comes amidst the alarming increase in wastes in Việt Nam.

According to a report by the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, between 2011 and 2015 people discharged around 1.2kg of waste per capita daily.

In HCM City and Hà Nội households generate 8,900 tonnes and 6,739 tonnes of solid waste per day respectively, and this figure is forecast to grow at 12 per cent annually. — VNS