RMIT experts available for comment ahead of the European Roundtable for Sustainable Consumption and Production

Dr Nguyen Anh Thu (thu.nguyen@rmit.edu.vn)

The zero-waste concept in Vietnam – littering, plastic pollution and minimising waste

Topics: pro-environmental consumer behaviour, eco-packaging, sustainable tourism, corporate social responsibility, zero waste

"Vietnam is a rapidly industrialising and increasingly consumerist society, with a mounting plastic waste problem. 

"It's estimated that between the country's two largest cities – Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City – around 80 tons of plastic waste is thrown away every day.

"Ocean Conservancy claims that Vietnam is among the top five countries – China, Indonesia, the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam – dumping as much as 60 per cent of its global plastic waste into the world’s seas. 

"The Vietnamese government has initiated social marketing campaigns to raise consumer awareness of plastic pollution and reduce consumption – but changing consumer behaviour is not easy.

"My work is focused on examining consumer behaviour towards plastic pollution and eco-friendly packaging as well as understanding consumer perceptions of littering and waste treatment. 

"The biggest challenge in my studies is collecting primary data on consumer behaviour because it's often product-specific, person-specific and situation-specific. 

"Many factors can affect whether consumers make eco-friendly decisions.

"I believe a full understanding of the psychological and external social factors influencing consumer behaviour is required before we can successfully encourage pro-environmental behaviour such as buying eco-friendly packaged food products, stopping littering and minimising waste.

"Motivating sustainable consumption must involve building awareness of environmental issues, developing supportive communities and promoting meaningful actions."

Dr Nguyen Anh Thu is a lecturer in marketing and course leader in consumer behaviour at RMIT University Vietnam. Anh Thu’s expertise is the application of zero waste in Vietnam, from littering, plastic pollution through to strategies for minimising waste. She has conducted research to understand local residents' awareness and perceptions as well as driven communication strategies to address the issue of ensuring environmentally sustainable cities for quality of life.

Dr Ferne Edwards (ferne.edwards@rmit.edu.au)

Sustainable food cities in Australia – the role of urban food for sustainability

Topics: city-based food-sharing economies, sustainable cities, ethical consumption, urban mapping, community gardens, climate change adaptation, human health, food production, food sharing, urban foraging, food waste redistribution organisations

“Melbourne is the third most active food sharing city after London and New York, as ranked by SHARECITY, a global food sharing study conducted at Trinity College Dublin.

"This project revealed a wide variety of food sharing activities, that include community, verge, school and backyard gardens, through to food swaps, ‘permablitzs’ and online food sharing services, such as RipeNear.Me.

"The benefits of food sharing include revaluing food from waste, supporting social inclusion, and reclaiming underused spaces in the city, where their actions can intersect with other sharing, food and social movements to form “food-sharing ecosystems”.”

"For SHARECITY I conducted research on food sharing examples in Melbourne and Barcelona. I now lead a work package in Barcelona for the H2020 EdiCitNet project and currently work across ten cities to establish an international edible cities network.”

"Food is an excellent connector – it provides a focus point where people can interact and relate to each other while supporting sustainable cities by reducing waste and revaluing resources. All these studies reveal that there are many inspiring urban food activities happening throughout the world.

"With so many diverse urban food sustainability models to choose from, everyone can be involved to help connect them back to nature, to their food and to each other."

Dr Ferne Edwards is an RMIT Europe Research Fellow for the European funded research project EdiCitNet – Edible Cities Network: Integrating Edible City Solutions for social resilient and sustainably productive cities. Ferne has more than a decade of research and teaching experience on sustainable cities, food systems and social change. Her research includes topics of sustainable cities at the University of Melbourne; ethical consumption at RMIT University; urban mapping and community gardens at the University of Western Sydney; and climate change adaptation, human health and food production at the Australian National University.

Javier Cortes (javier.cortes@rmit.edu.au)

Localising responsible production and consumption 

Topics: sustainable development goals, SDGS, city networks, sustainable development, localised impact

“Four years on, what has been the impact for cities following the adoption of the new 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development?

“We’ve seen countries implementing the agenda while ensuring an open dialogue with key stakeholders – from industry and enterprise through to academia and civil society.

“This network of key groups is strengthened through the frameworks and systems of the United Nations.

“At the core of this multi-stakeholder approach is activating solutions that address the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in ways that make sense locally.

“Sustainable cities are central to achieving the SDGs. 

"By 2030, the world is expected to have 43 megacities (over 10 million people each), not counting many secondary cities that will have less resources. By 2050, 70% of the world’s population will live in cities.

"All of society – governments, businesses, civil society and individuals – must be provided with tools that promote sustainable levels of production and consumption, from housing to transport. At the same time these tools must strengthen the role of citizens in adopting more sustainable ways of life.

“In this sense, this is where we see the value of city networks – localised impact towards achieving global objectives.” 

Javier Cortés Fernández is the Head of Local Engagement, UN Global Compact – Cities Programme. Javier launched the UN Global Compact Cities Program Office in Madrid in December 2018. Previously he was Head of Local Networks for the Americas for six years, where he was focused on mobilising the business community in the region to embrace a principles-based approach to engage in the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals.

***

For media enquiries, please contact RMIT Communications: 0439 704 077 or news@rmit.edu.au