Pineapple leaf, lotus silk fabrics made in Vietnam surprise foreign visitors at Green Vietnam Festival 2026

The Green Vietnam Festival 2026, taking place on November 7 and 8 at Phan Dinh Phung Park in Ho Chi Minh City, welcomes local residents as well as domestic and international visitors to explore green lifestyles and join efforts to protect the environment.

An annual event initiated by Tuoi Tre newspaper in 2024, this year's festival features 50 booths, offering exhibitions and hands-on activities to help the public, particularly young people, learn about practical ways to adopt a greener lifestyle.

Agricultural byproducts turned into green products

As she slowly made her way through the booths and listened to exhibitors explain their products, Robbin Block was intrigued to discover fabrics made from pineapple leaves and lotus silk in Vietnam.

She said the idea was great, especially at a time when polyester has become so widespread in the textile market.

She was particularly impressed by the beauty of lotus fabric, saying it looked much nicer than polyester and might also be more breathable.

For her, turning materials once considered agricultural waste into new products also reflects the beauty of entrepreneurship: finding creative ways to transform seemingly worthless materials into useful products rather than letting them go to waste.

"That has been the entrepreneurial journey for thousands of years," she told Tuoi Tre News.

"How do you make something out of nothing? Not that these materials are nothing, per se, but that's how it all starts. And that's the beautiful thing about entrepreneurship,” she added.

"It's about being able to invent something or find really creative ways to use materials instead of letting them go to waste. I love that."

Robbin Block also said she would love to see these products become available back home in the U.S. one day.

The visitor from Seattle took numerous photos of the booths, planning to show them to her sister, whom she described as passionate about the environment.

“She's going to love it. She's going to wish she was here,” Block said.

She also added that the festival showed her there's “real awareness” in Vietnam and that people are trying to do something about it.

Block noted that Asian societies are very generationally focused, with family members supporting one another and often living together.

"I think the older generation wants their grandchildren to have a really good life. They probably remember when the environment wasn't so polluted, and hopefully they are reinforcing positive messages about environmental protection to their own children” she said.

“I think that will have a really big impact on the kids."

Recycling and beyond

Meanwhile, visitor Philippe Monin said events like the Green Vietnam Festival should continue to be held to bring people together, provide exhibition spaces and give producers an opportunity to introduce their products to the public.

He found the format useful and said the festival atmosphere reminded him of farmers' markets he had been familiar with in France and later in the U.S., where he enjoyed visiting on weekend mornings.

According to him, such events provide opportunities for manufacturers to show what they can do about their products and explain the benefits their products bring to the community and the environment.

He particularly appreciated the waste-sorting demonstrations and recycling activities at the festival, describing them as “We need that badly!”

Meanwhile, Robbin Block pointed out that while recycling efforts were worthwhile, they were not enough to address environmental problems without broader changes and efforts to tackle their root causes.

One big issue, she mentioned, was improving water supply systems so people use less bottled water or people are encouraged to not always buy bottles.

“Because you can only recycle so much. There's a limit,” she said. “Making a million shopping bags or a million little toys doesn't fix where we start.”

Citing the U.S. as an example, she said that even in Seattle, where water is of good quality, people still buy large quantities of bottled water at supermarkets instead of using reusable water bottles.

She considered this a worrying practice given its long-term environmental consequences.

Green Vietnam 2026: Green transition for sustainable efficiency

The Green Vietnam program was initiated by Tuoi Tre online Newspaper, the Department of Climate Change under the Ministry of Agriculture and Environment, and the Packaging Recycling Organization Vietnam (PRO Vietnam), in coordination with various partners.

Under the theme "Green Transition - Sustainable Efficiency," Green Vietnam 2026 features a series of activities throughout the year, focusing on circular economy and sustainable development through in-depth news coverage and thematic seminars.

Other activities include the Green Vietnam podcast series on extended producer responsibility (EPR), tours of green businesses, the Future Agriculture Innovation Contest, and the Green Vietnam Festival 2026.

Through these activities, the program aims to raise public awareness, connect resources and promote practical action for environmental protection and a sustainable future.

Delivering the opening remarks at the Green Vietnam Festival 2026 on Saturday, Tran Xuan Toan, deputy general director of the Ho Chi Minh City Press and Broadcasting Agency and editor-in-chief of Tuoi Tre, said the festival's theme, "Green Transition - Sustainable Efficiency," reflected the need to move beyond commitments, slogans and conferences.

Green transition, he stressed, must be translated into concrete action, replicable models and measurable results.

Toan said the process required joint efforts from three key groups: the public, businesses and younger generations.