Building a Circular Island System in Koh Tao: Creating Pathways for Low-Value Materials
Under the MA-RE-DESIGN project, Trang City and Koh Tao municipalities commenced their Plastic Smart Cities journeys in 2025. In Trang, the emphasis was on strengthening the municipal, community, and informal-sector foundations needed for future circularity. While in Koh Tao, the work focused on overcoming island-specific barriers to recovering low-value materials. This article will focus on the Koh Tao’s efforts as of July 2026. Waste Infrastructure Gaps Threaten Koh Tao’s Environment Koh Tao […]
Hue’s Consistent Effort in Combatting Plastic Waste
Hue city was honored to be recognised as Viet Nam’s 2026 National Winner of WWF’s One Planet City Challenge, reflecting the city’s broader commitment to sustainability, in addition to being a Plastic Smart City, actively combatting plastic pollution since 2021. The Plastic Smart Cities project has supported these efforts through plastic waste collection and education, […]
The World Bank, PROBLUE | Technologies and Solutions to Manage Plastic Waste in Small and Remote Islands: Using the Technology Options for Plastic Waste in Island Contexts (TOPIC) Toolbox for Islands in Malaysia
The rapid escalation of global marine plastic pollution has reached a critical breaking point, with ocean-bound plastic waste projected to triple to 29 million tons by 2040. Isolated coastal communities and small islands sit on the absolute frontline of this environmental crisis, facing unique vulnerabilities due to high coastline-to-area ratios, fluctuating tourism spikes, and exorbitant […]
WWF | Reuse on Christmas Market: Guidelines for Municipality
As traditional Christmas markets across Europe strive to align with modern sustainability goals, the transition from single-use plastics to circular systems has become a priority for local governments. To support this shift, WWF Germany and the “mehrweg. einfach. machen.” alliance have released a comprehensive set of guidelines designed to help municipalities implement scalable reuse systems. […]
Institute for Tourism Sustainability | Plastic Waste Flow Baseline in the Tourism Sector and Municipalities of Trang & Koh Tao, Thailand
This report provides a comprehensive assessment of Single-Use Plastic (SUP) consumption and management in two key tourism areas in Thailand: Koh Tao and the Trang region, which includes Koh Libong, Koh Mook, Koh Kradang, and Pak Meng. The focus is on identifying effective voluntary reduction strategies for SUP use within the tourism sector, with recommendations […]
Keeping Sacred Spaces Plastic Pollution-Free: Encouraging Reuse
Encouraging Reuse at the Hàng Dương Cemetery, Côn Đảo’s tourism hotspot Each day, the solemn grounds of Viet Nam’s Hàng Dương memorial cemetery are abuzz with people paying their respects to fallen war heroes. However, one thing sets this famous tourist destination in Viet Nam apart: single-use plastic items are separated from ceremonial offerings and […]
Hue’s Tourism Sector Takes Action to Reduce Single-Use Plastics
Plastic Smart Cities Hue has worked at the provincial level with Thua Thien Hue Province Tourism Department and Association to install water refill stations at its key heritage sites and has expanded its collaboration with the tourism businesses sector, addressing the increasing plastic waste production from tourism activities by educating and engaging businesses to implement […]
Reducing Single-Use Plastic Bottles: Viet Nam’s Hue City Increases Water Refill Stations in Heritage Sites
As a committed Plastic Smart City, Hue organised multiple stakeholders across government departments and community groups* to support the set-up and maintenance of rest stations with dedicated free water refill stations at 5 more key tourist destinations in Hue city. To date, the PSC project in Hue has set up a total of 9 rest […]
WWF | Cities and Businesses Tackling the Tourism Plastic Crisis
Everyday, plastic flows into our natural environment at an unprecedented rate, posing a threat to land and marine ecosystems, local economies and human health. The tourism sector, including destinations and business, has an important role in contributing to the solution for plastic pollution. Tourism is responsible for up to 40% increase of marine litter in […]
Izmir Aims to End Plastic Waste in Tourism with Plastic Smart Cities
The Plastic Smart Izmir Tourism Workshop was held in Urladam, Izmir within the scope of the 15th European Waste Reduction Week held between 18 to 26 November 2023. With the slogan “End plastic waste in tourism“, the Plastic Smart Izmir Tourism Workshop was co-organised by the Izmir Metropolitan Municipality’s Climate Change and Zero Waste Department […]