By Nhi Nguyen Bach Yen, Sales & Business Intelligence, Schneider Electric Vietnam –
Schneider Electric is sharing the voices of its stakeholders on sustainability, partnerships and impact in Vietnam on the Sustainable Vietnam platform. Nhi Nguyen Bach Yen, Sales & Business Intelligence, at Schneider Electric Vietnam lifts her commitments to environmental and social impact both professionally and in her personal life.
My name is Nhi and I am working as Inside Sales and Business Intelligence for Schneider Electric. I have been at the company for two years and find the role very interesting as I like to understand numbers and what is behind it.
Bringing My Whole ‘Sustainable’ Self to Work
In my free time I spend a lot of time outside and do swimming, trekking and running. This helps me to relax and destress. Because of my interest and engagement in a ‘wellness’ approach and living an ‘active’ lifestyle, I was appointed by Schneider Electric to be a Well-Being Champion (https://sdreport.se.com/en/health-and-equity-overview).
In addition to my day-to-day role, I run different initiatives as a Well-Being Champion in the workplace from how to connect employees around our values through social activities; encouraging best posture and ergonomics while seated at the desk; teaching basic financial skills; and lifting up mindfulness classes.
These activities are aligned to the company’s well-being ambition to create an environment where employees are empowered to bring their ‘full’ self to work and where health is a key component. This is something I value immensely and also want to contribute to it in my workplace and with my colleagues.
Understanding How to Impact
In addition to making an impact at work, I also wanted to make an impact outside of work. When I went running, trekking and travelling, I saw with my eyes how much trash can be found everywhere here in Vietnam. This makes me really sad. I decided to understand why this was the case and started to look up numbers to recognize the extent of this problem.
It was shocking to see that Vietnam is one of the largest trash consumers worldwide. But in a way I should not be surprised as the daily use of single-use plastic is high. What I also understood and wasn’t initially aware, was that many of these products take many years to decompose – but most plastic items do not decompose fully. They turn into smaller microplastic which are harmful to our health and the environment.
Creating More Ideas
At work, I saw that Schneider Electric has the “Act for Green” initiative, which is a long-term program to increase awareness and education of environmental issues. Employees share their green ideas throughout the entire year – to support the environment and make an impact.
Every year during global days like Earth Overshoot day, Earth hour and Earth day (and many more) we can join different activities. We have workshops where we get to know how Schneider Electric concretely contributes to reducing environment challenges and we receive information on how we as individual employees can impact by implementing small actions in our daily life.
For example, during the annual Global Environment Day, we couldn’t join workshops due to social distancing but we a had full week of webinars with Schneider Electric and outside experts on Circular Economy (https://sdreport.se.com/en/circular-economy-overview), biodiversity and how we can reduce the environmental impact (https://www.se.com/sg/en/about-us/sustainability/climate-change/).
Lessen Waste
A way to move further towards a more sustainable future is to address single-use plastic towards a ‘circular culture’ – waste less, reuse everything.
To stop single-use plastics in Schneider Electric’s plants and sites is the first step. In addition to understanding how I could impact at work, I also wanted to impact personally and started researching this topic more. One of the learning areas that popped up is how NHC, a local NGO (https://www.facebook.com/NHCNetwork/posts/478164876003377)) and a local, factory DONG TIEN PAPER (http://dongtienpaper.com/gioi-thieu) turns a specific packaging carton into roof sheets.
Why are these packaging cartons used by many and why do they create so much waste?
Well… certain packaging is difficult because its composite product (the carton is made up of several parts). On top of the complicated packaging, Vietnam has currently few recycling facilities for complicated cartons and the process is very costly.
Thus, producing a new carton is much cheaper than recycling it. Therefore, most packaging end in landfill or the sea, causing serious environmental and human health impacts.
I and You Can Make a Difference
Knowing this, I started this campaign to encourage colleagues to bring their used cartons to the company or directly to one of the NHC stations collecting sites around the city. As we use a lot of milk on our site for coffee, I collect these cartons as well.
I usually collect around 200 packages a month with my colleagues.
We have a great video in VN which addresses this topic: ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5MJQ1gtN6qs&fbclid=IwAR0L0ELXHWRfvJNBFnLdCqzqF4dY-hQJyV80wtbv310LUN5In0xOcNukGp4&app=desktop).
I hope that we can raise more awareness and encourage people at work as well as at home to use less single-use plastic.
And that each one of us can make a difference in all aspects of our lives.
To read the full series –
- SCHNEIDER ELECTRIC ON SUSTAINABLE VIETNAM: BEING PART OF THE COLLECTIVE RESPONSIBILITY – By Felicitas Huong, CSR Manager, Schneider Electric Vietnam
- SCHNEIDER ELECTRIC ON SUSTAINABLE VIETNAM: A JOURNEY OF PURPOSE – By Felicitas Huong, CSR Manager, Schneider Electric Vietnam
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SCHNEIDER ELECTRIC ON SUSTAINABLE VIETNAM: PARTNERING FOR A NEXT GENERATION OF SKILLED WORKERS – By Mihaela Chirca, Project Manager, Institut Européen de Coopération et de Développement (IECD)
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SCHNEIDER ELECTRIC ON SUSTAINABLE VIETNAM: RUNNING FOR A GREENER PLANET – By Ly LE Nguyen Van, Retail Channel Marketing Manager, Schneider Electric Vietnam
To read about Schneider Electric on Sustainable Vietnam – THE ENERGY PARADOX: SCHNEIDER ELECTRIC ON BRINGING LIGHT – By Christina Ameln, Sustainability Strategist, Purple IVY
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