A festival ongoing in Ho Chi Minh City has received great applause from its visitors for fostering the use of environment-friendly packages in place of plastic ones.

Tet Viet Festival, an inaugural event jointly organized by the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Tourism and the Vietnam Culinary Culture Association, is taking place at the Le Van Tam Park in District 1 until Sunday.

The festival which features about 100 stalls recreates traditional customs and anecdotes about the Vietnamese Lunar New Year or Tet, the most anticipated holiday in the Southeast Asian country.

Various Tet specialties and regional dishes are also being showcased at the festi.

While aiming to raise people’s awareness of the preservation and protection of cultural identity and culinary quintessence of the Vietnamese people in modern life, the organizers also encourage participants to refrain from using plastic packages.

At the food stalls, most of food are displayed on banana leaves, bamboo or ceramic utensils.

Likewise, beverage shops also use paper glasses and paper straws to serve customers. 

“We try to limit the use of plastic utensils at the festival, creating an example for green, clean, and beautiful festivals in the future,” said Le Tan, vice-chairman and general secretary of the Vietnam Culinary Culture Association.

Tan added that the organizers have prepared for the collection of garbage after each session of the festival.

Lam Thi Nguyen Hong, general director of a company producing Tet gifts from recycled items, told Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper that her firm decided to join the Tet Viet Festival as it advocates reducing plastic waste.

“We want to increase the lifespan of plastic products, contributing to the reduction of waste discharged into the environment,” Hong said.

“Although it’s not a big deal, just a small act of today, we believe it will help change the world of tomorrow,” she added.

“I’m glad that such a large-scale festival employs banana leaves and paper cups, instead of plastic packages,” Phuong Thao, an office worker in Ho Chi Minh City, said upon her visit to the festival.

“It is indicative of the awareness of environmental protection being gradually improved in the community."

The young woman hoped that there would be more events using eco-friendly products like this.

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