Hanoi generates around 8,400 tonnes of household solid waste every day, according to the city's Department of Agriculture and Environment and is now strengthening waste separation at source, including the separation of food waste for organic recycling. It's into that gap that a group of secondary school students stepped, spending two days turning what they'd normally throw away into compost.
“Today, I learned how to make compost in the schoolyard and took part in some really fun games. I felt very happy and excited to discover new skills and knowledge that can help protect the environment. I want to share what I have learned with my friends at school and my family, so that we can all spread more green actions.” - Thanh, a Grade 9 student at Yen Hoa Secondary School,
Thanh and her classmates had just taken part in an exchange session on organic composting. The lesson started with things they already knew: a vegetable peel, a scrap of paper, a handful of dry leaves. From there, the lesson went further than Thanh expected, into what happens to that peel after it's thrown away.
This is also the spirit of “Rooting for Change”, a series of exchange and hands-on learning activities bringing together students from three secondary schools in Hanoi – Yen Hoa, Nam Trung Yen and Truong Cong Giai – and a group of students from the National University of Singapore (NUS), with the collaboration of Rikolto and the Centre for Community and Environment Development Initiatives (C&E).
The activities that Thanh mentioned were organised in August 2026 as part of Rikolto’s Good Food at School project in Vietnam.
The connection between NUS and secondary schools in Hanoi began in 2024, when NUS started working with Rikolto to explore school food systems in Vietnam.
In 2025, the first group of NUS students, led by lecturer Jerome KOK, came to Vietnam and worked with Rikolto and C&E to organise nutrition-focused exchange activities at Yen Hoa and Nam Trung Yen Secondary Schools.
In 2026, Jerome returned to Vietnam with a new group of university students, working again with Rikolto and C&E. In January of that year, 60 students from Yen Hoa, Nam Trung Yen and Truong Cong Giai Secondary Schools began learning about organic composting with the NUS students.
Nam Trung Yen was the first to take it further, moving lessons into hands-on practice in the school garden. They started to show students how to cut up vegetables, dry leaves and eggshells, sorted the materials and layered them in a compost bin. Through this, the idea was to motivate them to imagine a circular system within their own school — vegetables and eggshells from the school kitchen, along with dry leaves from the school grounds, turned into compost that returns nutrients to plants, while those plants become food for people again.
By August, that hands-on practice had extended to the other two schools, Yen Hoa and Truong Cong Giai.
Truong Cong Giai Secondary Schools began learning about organic composting with the NUS students.
Composting may be a new concept for many students. Instead of starting with theory, the project team made by Rikolto, C&E, the schools teachers and the NUS group, explored and prepared to guide the secondary school students into the process through card games and interactive activities.
That looked like, for instance, learning how to distinguish "green" and "brown" materials — roughly, moist kitchen scraps like vegetable peels versus dry material like leaves and branches — and understanding the role of each type, to exploring the basic steps involved in setting up a compost bin; the lessons were presented in an engaging and accessible way.
Trung, a Grade 6 student at Truong Cong Giai Secondary School, shared:
“I liked the games the most because they were fun and helped us learn a lot. After the session, I think I can make my own compost to help the plants around my home grow better.”
The activities also gave students a chance to practice English, playing, discussing and working in groups with guidance from the NUS students, they picked up communication and teamwork skills alongside the composting itself.
“What impressed me most was how enthusiastic and proactive the students were throughout the session. When they learn through hands-on experience, knowledge becomes more accessible, easier to understand and more memorable. I believe activities like this help students develop an awareness of environmental protection and encourage them to change small habits in their daily lives." — Ms Le Ha, homeroom teacher of Class 9A8 at Yen Hoa Secondary School.
For Quang, a Grade 9 student at Yen Hoa Secondary School, the lesson also inspired him to change some of his daily habits. He shared that he especially liked using leftover vegetable and fruit peels to make fertiliser for plants. And that from now on, he'll collect his leftover food waste to help the plants grow.
On 5 August 2026, Yen Hoa Lower Secondary School organised “A Little Summer Kitchen – Exploring Safe and Healthy Food”, helping students learn more about balanced nutrition, the four essential food groups, a nutritious breakfast, food safety and healthy eating habits.
Through exchanges with the NUS students, games, quizzes and the “Young Chef – Little MasterChef Yen Hoa” experience, students were encouraged to look at food from different perspectives — not just delicious, but also healthy and safe.
Together, the two sets of activities cover the whole arc: choosing and preparing food, eating it well, and then managing what's left over so it returns nutrients to the soil and the environment.
A portion of food that does not go to waste.
A handful of dry leaves sorted properly.
A compost bin cared for together.
A green shoot nurtured to grow.
Or a lesson shared with family and friends.
Through these everyday experiences, students are learning that they can be part of the change themselves — starting with the small choices they make. Multiplied across three schools and carried home, those choices are what a more sustainable food system actually looks like.
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