While plastic has many valuable uses, it has cause severe environmental consequences as plastic waste is getting ubiquitous in our daily lives. In order to minimize environmental pollution, IPPG and Autogrill VFS F&B have joined forces to reduce waste, especially plastic waste recently.

From pre-planning to tackle waste pollution

Every year, in addition to organizing and executing business strategies, Autogrill VFS F&B always takes their corporate social responsibilities seriously, which are encouraged and directed by CEOs and senior managers. Regarding of this implementation in Vietnam, Mr. Simon Stansfield - Autogrill VFS F&B Managing Director also has initiatives for Helping Hands, including Community Care, Environment Care, Focus on Sustainability, Vacational Training and Toi Yeu Vietnam.

In particular, Focus on Sustainability is about practical actions to minimize waste and negative human impacts on ecosystem in order to maintain an ecological sustainability such as:

* Reduce waste, especially disposable plastic waste, by saying no to plastic bags, straws and caps and using paper products, biodegradable nylon bags instead.

* Promote the implementation of 3R (Reduce - Reuse – Recycle) towards reducing not only plastic but using paper, wood, greenery, clean water, fuel, natural resources more effectively as well as preventing deforestation…

Autogrill VFS F&B promotes ‘stop using plastics’ at F&B stores

To practical actions

Cutting down on plastic wastes is not only the right thing to do but also financially beneficial. From promotion at individual stores, now the large chains of IPPG & Autogrill VFS F&B have also joined forces to protect the environment by replacing plastic with suitable, reusable materials, segregating waste into recyclable (bottles, jars, paper boxes, etc.) and non-recyclables items and these regulations are currently being applied at Tan Son Nhat Airport.

In response to the movement of reducing plastic waste launched by the Prime Minister and the Government on June 9, 2019, Tan Son Nhat Airport’s Board of Directors will announce ban on three types of disposable plastic, which are plastic cups, plastic straws and nylon bags from Jan 1^st, 2020. Therefore, Autogrill VFS F&B and IPPG have also prepared altogether for appropriate changes at franchised F&B stores at Tan Son Nhat Airport including Burger King, Popeyes’s, Costa Coffee, Café Expresso, etc. ... and at exclusive brand stores such as Big Bowl (serving noodles and noodles), Saigon Café.Bar.Kitchen, or Next Noodles, etc. After that, the change is taken into action at IPPG restaurant chain at Noi Bai, Phu Quoc, Cam Ranh, Da Nang airports.

To tackle plastic pollution, there stores are removing plastic straws, only providing paper straws when requested. Plastic is replaced with eco-friendly materials such as paper, nylon, cloths in order to reduce plastic waste and increase consumer awareness of plastic use.

Popeyes’s says no to plastic straws, bags and boxes

Star Café refuses to serve disposable products

In addition, in the near future, IPPG is also planning to apply plastic waste restriction in other stores within the group in Vietnam.

Although these actions above are just such smalls steps at beginning phase, IPPG and Autogrill VFS F&B dare to think and do right with determination, uniformity and consistency. This is a good sign that the IPPG & Autogrill VFS F&B’s efforts of reducing wastes is making an impact to customers and other brands in F&B industry – currently using a lot of disposable plastic products, meeting consumer expectations in an alarming environmental situation today.

Autogrill VFS F&B is one of the 18 joint ventures of IPPG. Currently, IPPG is one of the leading multi-industry corporations, an exclusive retailer/distributor of over 100 top-world brands, an investor of luxury shopping malls and an owner of over 1,000 high-end retail stores. Besides that, IPPG one of the investors of Cam Ranh International Terminal and duty-free stores at major airports all over Vietnam. Every year, IPPG pays 1,950 billion VND to national budget for tax and creates 25,000 jobs.