In response to the city-launched anti-plastic waste campaign, many of young people in Da Nang have started businesses with environmentally-friendly products. Amongst, Nguyen Thi Xuan Hang, Trinh Ngoc Toan and Nguyen Tan Loc are typical examples.

Ms Nguyen Thi Xuan Hang and her company’s eco-friendly products

In recent years, many coffee shops in the city have replaced plastic straws with ones made of such environmentally friendly materials as bamboo, paper, and rice flour.

For that reason, Nguyen Thi Xuan Hang (1988) and Trinh Ngoc Toan (1995) have together implemented a startup project with paper straws. The intention is to bring the eco-friendly products closer to the general public.

Hang said many people voiced their support for stopping the use of single-use plastic products. However, she added most of plastic alternatives are sourced from other localities nationwide. Therefore, she dreamed of producing paper straws right in the city to serve local residents.

As a result, the Green SP Joint Stock Company was officially set up in early 2019.

The company’s products are made of water-resistant paper which is imported from Europe and meets all the city’s standards for food quality and safety.

Green SP Company’s paper straws

Currently, the Green SP JSC produces over two million paper straws every month. Its products have been distributed to around 30 restaurants, hotels and tourist-packed destinations in Da Nang and Quang Nam Province’s Hoi An City.

As noted by many customers, this type of straw has an eye-catching design and ensure hardness and durability when is soaked in water for many hours. The prices of straws are one-half times higher than plastic ones.

Another example for doing startup with eco-friendly products is Nguyen Tan Loc, also a Da Nang native.

Despite being graduated from an engineering university, Loc showed keen interest in environmental protection projects. That is the reason his EcoLution project was born.

Loc's project is divided into two parts. The first part of the project focuses on changing the habit of the young in using bamboo straws instead of disposable plastic ones. As for the second part of the project, Loc will introduce his products made from barley straw to local residents.

Currently, Loc is making 3 types of bamboo straws of different sizes. The main ingredient of this type of straw is special bamboo with the scientific name of Bambusa balcooa which is sourced from Thanh Hoa Province.

Apart from bamboo straws, Loc has created such products as water bottles, combs, and toothbrushes. These products are mainly made from barley straw and a very small amount of biodegradable plastics which can decompose naturally in the environment.

All of them are heat-resistant products between minus 20 degrees Celsius and plus 130 degrees Celsius, and they can be used in microwave ovens. The products have been certified by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and Swiss SGS.

Nguyen Tan Loc checking his eco-friendly products

After more than 3 months of deploying the bamboo straw project, Loc and his co-workers has distributed more than 1,200 sets of bamboo straws for pupils and students cross the city.

In the near future, a large number of free bamboo straws will be given to local residents and visitors.

Loc said, to date, he has yet to earn any profits from his bamboo straw production project, but his project has helped to change people’s habit of using this eco-friendly straws instead of disposable plastic ones.

He hoped that his barley straw-made products will become more popular amongst local residents in near future.

What makes young startuppers with eco-friendly products fell happy is the community's enthusiastic response to their products.

Hang said her company has yet to expand its consumption market because the focus is on the promotion of her products amongst residents and visitors in Da Nang. The purpose is to build Da Nang into a green and environmentally-friendly tourism city in the years ahead.

By XUAN SON - Translated by MAI DUNG