The Kitchen God Day 2026 campaign ran from 28 October 2025 to 10 February 2026 — the 23rd day of the twelfth lunar month — closing a nearly four-month journey with almost 2 tonnes of waste collected and sorted, and a greener Lunar New Year for the communities involved.
2026 also marks a 10-year milestone: a decade of Keep Vietnam Clean working through the Tet season, building commitment, testing new approaches, and pushing sustainable practice forward year after year.
What this report covers
- What Kitchen God Day 2026 set out to do
- Cleanup and waste sorting: the full numbers
- What the waste breakdown actually tells us
- Volunteers and community engagement
- Communications, training and the TikTok contest
- Sponsors, partners and acknowledgements
About the Kitchen God Day 2026 campaign
Kitchen God Day is an annual Keep Vietnam Clean initiative promoting civilised Tet practices and reducing the environmental impact of the Kitchen God Festival — a period that generates large volumes of votive ash, ceremonial offerings and plastic waste in a very short window.
Kitchen God Day 2026 will combine cleanup operations, waste sorting, community training, creative communications and partnerships with recycling units. The goal is long-term behavioural change, not a one-off tidy-up.
Three objectives for Kitchen God Day 2026
1. Research and connect with waste treatment partners. Identify, pilot, and establish partnerships with sorting and recycling units able to properly process the plastic waste and votive ash collected during the campaign.
2. Raise awareness and shift community behaviour. Build understanding of how votive ash and plastic waste affect the environment, and encourage reduction, correct sorting, and responsible disposal after worship ceremonies.
3. Bring more men into environmental action. Create space for men to take part directly, challenging the perception that environmental work belongs mainly to women or to young people.
Cleanup and waste sorting results
Across just two days of cleanup at five locations in Bo De Ward (Hanoi) and Thuy Loi Village, Kitchen God Day 2026 recorded 1,991.4kg — almost 2 tonnes — collected and sorted:
- 780.7kg — joss paper ash
- 603kg — ceremonial offerings
- 306.4kg — plastic waste
- 301.3kg — other waste (ceramic fragments, confectionery packaging, mixed materials)
2026 was also the first year KVC partnered with a sorting facility in Bac Ninh and the Vinatic recycling plant in Hai Phong, together processing 46.9kg of clean plastic bags after collection — a first step toward closing the loop on what the campaign gathers.
What the waste breakdown actually tells us
The figures repay a closer look. Joss paper ash and ceremonial offerings together account for 1,383.7kg — 69.5% of everything collected. Plastic, the material most environmental campaigns lead with, makes up just 15.4%.
That distribution validates where Kitchen God Day 2026 puts its effort. The dominant waste stream here is not packaging discarded carelessly; it is the ritual itself. Reducing it cannot be achieved by better bins alone — it depends on conversations about how families observe the festival, which is precisely what the training sessions were built for.
The recycling figure deserves the same honesty: 46.9kg recovered from 306.4kg of plastic is a 15.3% recovery rate. Modest, and a genuine baseline. Having a real number to improve on is worth more than a first year that quietly reports nothing.
Volunteer and community engagement
Nearly 120 volunteers joined, 41.53% of them male — drawn from the Keep Vietnam Clean Organizing Committee, the Ho Chi Minh Communist Youth Union of Bo De Ward, the Youth Union of Vietnam Airlines Corporation, the Delegation of the German Embassy in Hanoi, and the volunteer team of InterContinental Hanoi Landmark72.
Participation spanning government, business and local residents gave the Kitchen God Day 2026 cleanup real collective weight.
Communications and community education
Alongside the physical work, Kitchen God Day 2026 continued to invest in education and behaviour-change communications.
Online reach
- 1,640,538 people reached
- 50,434 engagements
These came from KVC’s official social channels, user-generated content from Kitchen God Day 2026 contest participants, and amplification through Media Ambassadors.
“Sustainable Tet Practices” training sessions
Two sessions reached 209 local residents (34.5% male) from the Women’s Union, Veterans’ Association, and Youth Union in Bo De Ward and Thuy Loi Village. The sessions covered the current picture of joss paper burning and plastic waste in Vietnam, the effects of burning on air quality, household health, and water sources, and simple solutions families can apply immediately during Tet.
Workshop “Visual Storytelling: From Idea to Video”
27 young participants (29.41% male) built short-form video skills and were encouraged to enter the TikTok contest. The workshop was held at Read Station – Book Coffee & Library, with professional support from the Center for Assistance and Development of Movie Talents (TPD).
TikTok contest: “Clean Ash – Green Tet – Sharing Good Intentions”
The contest drew 26 submissions from across the country — Hanoi 51.7%, Ho Chi Minh City 24.1%, Hai Phong 10.3%, with entries also from Binh Duong, Hai Duong and Da Nang. Entrants were mostly aged 15–26, with the 22–23 group most prominent (36.36% male). It was the widest geographic spread Kitchen God Day 2026 has reached through user-generated content.
Read together, male participation across the campaign ran between 29% and 42%, highest in the physical cleanup and lowest in the creative workshop — a useful signal for where the third objective still has ground to cover.
Acknowledgements
Keep Vietnam Clean sincerely thanks everyone who made Kitchen God Day 2026 possible:
- Silver Sponsor: Asian Trails
- Bronze Sponsors: Pacific Environment, Hanoi Toronto School, Enzyco, Wide Eyes Pupils, Kapiti College
- Co-Sponsors: Acacia International Pre-school, BIS, EXO Travel Vietnam
- Inspiration Sponsors: Hilton Garden Inn Hanoi, Emeralda Ninh Binh Resort & Spa, Emeralda Resort Tam Coc, InterContinental Hanoi Landmark72, Diamond Westlake Suites
- In-kind Sponsors: Chula, Meo Tom Handmade, Song Cai Distillery, Bio LAK Vietnam, Aquatics Hub Hanoi, Unrolled. Upcycled & Unique, Green Gem Shop
- Venue Sponsors: Diamond Westlake Suites, Read Station – Book Coffee & Library
- Partners: Ho Chi Minh Communist Youth Union of Bo De Ward, Delegation of the German Embassy in Hanoi; Recycling Partner: Vinatic; Professional Partner: Center for Assistance and Development of Movie Talents (TPD)
- Media Partners: YBOX.vn, Phap Luat Viet Nam, VNA Media, VTV1, Chuyen Dong 24h, VOV Traffic, Vietnam.vn
- Communications Ambassadors: Nguyen Quoc Hoang Kha (Kha Khong Rac), Ho Thi Thu Thuy (SUI Da Vegetarian)
Community support has always been decisive, and it remains the reason Keep Vietnam Clean can keep researching and developing new ways to reduce pressure on the natural environment.
What comes after Kitchen God Day 2026
The next edition starts from a stronger baseline: a recycling partnership that now exists, a measured recovery rate to improve, and clearer evidence about which waste stream matters most. Three ways to be part of it:
- Become a member and join our volunteer events across Vietnam
- Support our work so we can run more cleanups and training sessions
- Explore our programmes and bring your organisation on board as a partner
#KeepVietnamClean #KitchenGodDay2026 #GreenTet #SustainableTet #CleanAsh
