Trash Hero Vietnam | Trash Hero World

Volunteers creating the world we deserve

by Lydia on 12/02/2025 No comments

Imagine a world where everyone understands the impact of plastic on our bodies, health, and environment, and supports real solutions to the plastics crisis. A world where businesses prioritise preventing waste and the health and well-being of people and the planet.

Every week, Trash Hero volunteers are working in their communities to make this dream a reality. This year, we welcomed 14 new chapters to the Trash Hero family, and the USA and Japan rejoined our growing network. We’re now active* in 103 locations across 15 countries (Cambodia, Czech Republic, Germany, Indonesia, Japan, Kuwait, Malaysia, Myanmar, Poland, Serbia, South Korea, Switzerland, Thailand, USA, and Vietnam).

Let’s take a look at the impact each of our core programmes has made:

Action and Awareness:

In 2024 alone, Trash Hero volunteers organised 2,446 community cleanups, mobilising 46,501 volunteers, including 17,036 under 16s! Together, they collected 105.2 tonnes of trash!

This brings the total impact of our Action and Awareness programme from December 2013 to December 2024 to:

23,304 cleanups organised
562,144 volunteers mobilised (including 154,918 under 16s)
2,601,608 kg of trash collected

Trash Hero Communities:

Trash Hero volunteers, through their consistent action, are given opportunities to share their knowledge and inspire others. This includes giving presentations, building zero-waste projects, and providing input at policy discussions. In 2024, Trash Hero volunteers organised or participated in 173 community events, engaging 13,537 people in the issues surrounding plastic pollution and the actions needed to solve it.

Since 2022, Trash Hero volunteers have engaged 25,685 people in 463 events.

Our Trash Hero Communities programme includes our free water refill network, which currently consists of 579 participating businesses. In 2024 alone, these businesses have helped prevent the use of 1.9 million single-use plastic bottles, avoiding 104.4 tonnes of CO2 emissions! Since the project began, we have:

distributed 111,068 reusable water bottles.
avoided 42.5 million single-use plastic bottles and 2,219.6 tonnes of CO2 emissions.

Kids and Education:

Our Trash Hero Kids programme is based on a story and activity book that engages young people in the issues of plastic pollution. In 2024, 585 kids enrolled in the programme – which over time encourages long-term behaviour change. We also ran 70 one-off awareness events for kids, introducing 5,401 under 16s to the critical issues of plastic pollution. This brings our total since we started recording in 2022, to 289 kids’ events, involving 14,510 kids!

In total, 23,330 copies of our kids’ story and activity book have been printed, and it’s available in 8 different languages.

Thank you to all of our volunteers and supporters – we could not have achieved this without you!

Join us in creating the world we deserve, a world free from plastic pollution.

Watch our latest impact video here:

https://youtu.be/qE6KZFE7-84?si=Y1KQCXiDDAuU8nLO

*Active chapters are those regularly organising Trash Hero events. If a chapter leader steps down and there is no one to replace them, or the team want to take a break for 3 months or longer, the chapter is “inactive” and not included in our reporting.

The key to volunteer motivation: Trash Hero Family Meetings

by Lydia on 26/06/2024 1 comment

What keeps Trash Hero volunteers organising regular cleanups year round? Perhaps the secret lies in our regular Trash Hero Family Meetings. Here, our chapter teams can network, share and better understand the “why” behind our actions. It’s an intense and often deep experience. As one volunteer from Thailand put it: “there is no other seminar as worthwhile to the soul and to the world“.

These meetings bring volunteers together for 3 days of:

knowledge building: workshops and presentations on the issues surrounding plastic pollution
skill strengthening: building capacity for community leadership
boosting motivation: creating positive energy and inspiration through sharing and connecting with others

This year’s Family Meetings, held in Indonesia and Thailand, centred around a fundamental question: why do we do cleanups?

The answer – which is not necessarily what people expect – shaped the rest of the content: to provide education about zero waste and build community engagement.

Workshops encouraged volunteers to think critically about waste. We explored the big picture, understanding that litter is just a symptom of a larger systemic problem.
Informative presentations shared new knowledge about the impact plastic has on the climate and our health.
Group sessions looked at building trust in communities, leadership skills and effective communication.
Games and quizzes helped keep everyone energised while also reinforcing the learning material.
A group cleanup showed the possibility for education, best practices and (in Indonesia) a brand audit.

The Indonesian gathering saw almost 60 participants travel from all corners of the country to Sanur, Bali from 31 May – 2 June.

In Thailand, the event took place from 7 – 9 June in Bangkok. It brought together participants from across Southeast Asia, including Thailand, Malaysia, Cambodia, Vietnam and Myanmar. Sessions took place in parallel in Thai and English, with volunteers happily mingling during the breaks and cleanup activity. As one volunteer from Malaysia said “language was no barrier at all when you feel and see the same things”

The sessions with guest speakers, leadership coaches Pak Made Pay (Indonesia) and Khun Amnat (Thailand), proved very popular, with their insights into team building and the qualities needed for effective leadership. Thank you to both for sharing their wisdom, which will no doubt have an impact on our chapter teams. We hope to provide similar training to all volunteers soon.

Following the meetings, we sent out a feedback survey to all participants and the response was overwhelmingly positive. 100% of volunteers who replied felt more knowledgeable about both zero waste and plastic pollution, and 96% felt their motivation increased. One volunteer from Thailand commented: “the event made me know more about plastic waste, from the source to the solutions, with activities that connect people from different regions.”

Trash Hero World fully supports the family meetings, covering the travel, food, accommodation costs for all participants. We also handle the logistics and content design, creation and delivery.

In July, volunteers from Trash Hero in Switzerland and Germany will hold a zero waste picnic to celebrate their hard work and support new chapter leaders. The shared experiences, the learning and the connections – these are the things that keep us all motivated in our mission to create a world free from plastic pollution.

Let’s keep the momentum going.

Trash Hero Indonesia Family Meeting 31 May – 2 June

Location: Sanur, Bali

Participants: 57

Chapters: 27

Trash Hero Family Meeting Thailand 7-9 June

Location: Bangkok, Thailand

Participants: 40

Chapters: 22

Group of volunteers smiling at the camera. ll are wearing Trash Hero -shirts

Our Impact up to 31st December 2022

by Lydia on 15/02/2023 2 comments

Every week volunteers around the world put on their yellow t-shirts and commit to working towards a world free from plastic pollution – but what does it really mean to be a Trash Hero?

It means that we are a global movement. Trash Hero is currently active in 139 locations in 17 countries. To date, our movement has mobilised 466,578 volunteers, 120,673 of whom were under 16! We are passionate about including a wide range of people in our activities, and we celebrate this diversity as much as possible.

Being a Trash Hero also means taking regular action against plastic pollution. In 2022 alone, Trash Hero volunteers organised 3,296 cleanups – an average of 9 cleanups a day and 45 kgs per event! This brings our total number of cleanups since 2013 to an incredible 18,206, removing a total of 2,302,862 kgs of trash

We help people reduce single-use plastic through our refill and reuse programmes. To date, we have distributed 106,188 reusable water bottles through our partner network, which includes 673 points where people can refill their bottle for free. This has prevented an incredible 38,8 million single-use plastic bottles from being used and has reduced 2017.572 tonnes of CO2 emissions. We have also distributed 29,520 reusable Trash Hero bags, preventing the use of 10.8 million single-use plastic bags

Trash Hero is also committed to inspiring a new generation of activists! Our dedicated kids programme, which began in 2018, has helped 23,330 kids build sustainable habits. This is done through our story and activities book

As well as hands-on action within communities, Trash Hero is committed to collecting data that can be used to influence policy change on plastic. Trash Heroes have conducted 402 brand audits that have been included in reports holding corporate polluters responsible. These reports have been submitted to the UN negotiations for a Global Plastics Treaty.

But it’s not just about the numbers. Being a Trash Hero means that we feel connected with your fellow volunteers, we are motivated to create change and we are thankful to everyone who supports and contributes to our movement.

And most of all, it means that we are family!

Thank you to all of our volunteers who have been part of the incredible impact that we have had. We can’t wait to see what 2023 brings!

We have been collecting data since December 2013; as of 31st December 2022 these are our numbers!

18,206 cleanups
139 active chapters in 17 countries
466,578 volunteers, including 120,673 under 16s
Responsibly collected and disposed of 2,302,862 kg of trash
As part of the Trash Hero Bottle program, 106,188 reusable bottles have been distributed, avoiding 38.8 million single-use plastic bottles and reducing 2,107 tonnes of CO2 emissions
As part of the Trash Hero Bag program, 29,520 reusable Trash Hero bags have been distributed, saving 10.8 million single-use plastic bags

Do you want to be part of a movement that is dedicated to creating change? Trash Hero cleanups are open for everyone to join – no cost, no sign-up, just show up! Find your nearest chapter here.

Trash Hero Chapter Handbook now available in Vietnamese

by Martyna Morawska on 10/10/2021 No comments

Trash Hero World is happy to announce that our Chapter Handbook has recently been translated into the Vietnamese language! In addition to Vietnamese, our handbook is also available in English, Thai, Indonesian and Burmese. This comprehensive document provides our future chapter leaders with recommendations on how to form a team, find sponsors and carry out the activities in accordance with our values.

Having our handbook translated to multiple languages supports our new and existing volunteers by providing guidance on our programmes. This in turn, allows more people to have the chance to take on prominent roles within Trash Hero World, and supports our network in building a sustainable, plastic-free future.

We are proud to witness the expansion of our organisation and the increasing engagement of our volunteers in Vietnam. None of this would have been possible without the help of our amazing volunteers with Trash Hero Song Cau, Trash Hero Hoi An and Trash Hero Ho Chi Minh, who completed the translation work.

You can find the Vietnamese version of the handbook here.