Along with society
Working with children to tackle plastic waste
Leveraging expertise from the School Lunch Project to raise environmental awareness
Since 2012, Ajinomoto Vietnam has been working with the Ministry of Education and Training and the Ministry of Health of Vietnam to implement the School Lunch Project*1 for elementary schools. This project provides school lunches for pupils throughout Vietnam. The project entered the second stage in FY2023 and expanded to cover elementary schools using catering services and schools that plan to provide school lunches in the future. By December 2025, over 4,400 elementary schools had implemented the project.
The School Lunch Project, which started with the desire to solve the nutritional problems of Vietnamese children, is now evolving further. A new area the project focuses on is raising environmental awareness among children. During the 2025 school year, two elementary schools in Dong Nai Province implementing the School Lunch Project began deploying the Plastic Waste Collection Model.
The Plastic Waste Collection Model
The Plastic Waste Collection Model begins by educating children to raise their environmental awareness. Ajinomoto Vietnam and elementary schools work together to create educational videos on plastic waste collection and environmental protection for pupils. This method of video instruction utilizes the expertise of the School Lunch Project. Ajinomoto Vietnam also conducts training for elementary school management officials, teachers, and environmental ambassadors (pupil representatives selected and appointed by the school).
In elementary schools, Ajinomoto Vietnam fosters environmental awareness among children daily through video-based instruction and environmental ambassadors. In addition, Plastic Waste Collection Models are installed in schools to encourage children to separate plastic waste each day. The plastic waste is collected by a collection vendor and properly disposed of.
In addition, the project works to reuse plastic waste. Ajinomoto Vietnam provides education materials on reuse. The project teaches children about reuse in elementary schools using these materials and encourages the children to apply the concepts through extracurricular activities and contests, where they create useful items including flowerpots and pencil cases from plastic waste.
Expanding value creation through plastic waste across Vietnamese society
The activities of the Plastic Waste Collection Model have begun to expand beyond children to the broader community. For example, the model holds Plastic Waste Collection Day events to collect plastic waste not only at schools but also at home. The model also gives the pupils opportunities to learn about Ajinomoto Vietnam's environmental activities through plant tours.
In the future, the model also plans for licensed recyclers to collaborate with Ajinomoto Vietnam to convert collected and recycled plastic waste into Ajinomoto Vietnam's EPR*2 credits. The company believes that these efforts will not only enhance environmental awareness but also lead to the creation of economic value. Ajinomoto Vietnam will continue to implement activities to ensure that activities launched through the School Lunch Project connect to the practice of ASV on a broader scale.
- *2EPR: Extended Producer Responsibility. A policy approach in which producers take responsibility for the entire product life cycle, including the collection and recycling of post-consumer packaging materials.
June 2026