From Scrap Collector to Climate Warrior: How a Vietnamese App Is Empowering Women

Aug 15, 2025 | Thao Hoang
UN Women Asia and the Pacific
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Every morning, before the city awakens, 38-year-old Ngô Thị Thu pushes her handcart through the alleys of Mễ Trì Thượng, a ward in the Vietnamese capital of Ha Noi. For more than a decade, Thu has made her living collecting recyclable waste – plastic bottles, metal scraps, broken electronics, etc. To most, she is a scrap collector. But with a simple tap on her aging smartphone, Thu becomes something more – a contributor to Viet Nam’s climate goals.

Thu uses Waznet, a mobile application designed to record the waste she collects.

“I never thought picking up scrap could help protect the climate,” she said at an UN Women-workshop in June 2025. “But now, I see that every bottle I can collect means fewer emissions, cleaner air and recognition for our work.”

Viet Nam is one of the countries most vulnerable to climate change, already experiencing rising sea levels, erratic weather, and severe flooding and droughts. In 2020, the country’s greenhouse gas emissions reached approximately 370 million tons of carbon dioxide (CO₂) equivalent, primarily from energy, agriculture and waste sectors.