Quitting the salary of 50 million / month, opening the coffee shop from ‘garbage’

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With the desire to spread green lifestyles and change the sense of community, Mr. Nguyen Van Tho has built a cafe model made of recycled materials in Hang Tre Street (Hoan Kiem District, Hanoi).

Parachute cafe is made of plastic bottles and tires are very unique and fancy /// Photo Khanh Huyen

The umbrella cafe is made of plastic bottles and tires are very unique and fancy.PHOTO KHANH HUYEN

Coffee shop made from … “trash”

Born and raised in the countryside of Bac Ninh, witnessing heavy environmental pollution in craft villages due to inadequate waste treatment, Mr. Nguyen Van Tho is always pondering about his thoughts: carrying the death penalty ”, when everyone around died of cancer. That prompted him to quit his job at an American travel agency with a dream income (about 50 million VND / month) to switch to a recycled coffee shop business .

Located in a small alley in Hang Tre street, Hidden Gem coffee shop makes many people surprised by the unique and fancy it brings. All items in the restaurant from tables and chairs, straws, cups … are recyclable materials, friendly with the environment. Objects such as the plow locomotive, sewing machine table legs, tires … are extended by Mr. Tho to form useful items.

Quitting the salary of 50 million / month, opening the coffee shop from 'garbage' - photo 1Many items are used in recycling, environmental messages are also shown through many pictures on the wall.PHOTO KHANH HUYEN

Usually, cafes only take 1-2 months to build and complete. However, it took him 5 months to perfect his cafe. This guy took a motorbike alone along the highway from Hanoi to Bac Ninh to collect waste and bring back to work by himself.

After the material is collected, Mr. Tho is cleaned, decorated and made into items. In the process of handling, he always adheres to the rule of not burning scrap to ensure that it does not harm the environment and the health of users. 

Talking more about the process, Mr. Tho shared that he was born and raised in the village, so everything must be done by hand. His 3,000 different plastic bottles and products are all homemade.

Quitting the salary of 50 million / month, opening the coffee shop from 'garbage' - photo 2Old shoes were used instead of potted plants.PHOTO KHANH HUYEN

Bring ‘trash’ to the shop and get a 10 – 20% discount

With the expectation that customers are also garbage collectors, when bringing recycled items to the shop, they will receive a discount of 10 – 20% for drinks. For products that cannot be self-recycled, Mr. Tho will act as a bridge to other units for treatment. Here, he is a “garbage bank” Ralava (Garbage is gold) – unit specializing in handling recycled plastic . 

In addition, he also instructs the students to recycle rubbish in elementary and junior high schools and opens workshops so that everyone can experience how to recycle. Anh Tho said: “I want to change the sense of the community from the smallest things, turning waste into a resource like other countries that they are still doing like Japan, Singapore. 

Anything that goes away if you know how to exploit it can become a resource. I know, a swallow wing cannot bring spring, but a swallow wing, it still signals the coming of spring ”.

Quitting the salary of 50 million / month, opening a coffee shop from 'garbage' - photo 31,000 plastic bottles are drawn into flowers as a cover for the shop.PHOTO KHANH HUYEN

In addition to a shop in Hanoi, Mr. Tho has also opened a recycled coffee shop in Ho Chi Minh City and will soon be in his homeland Bac Ninh. He also plans to continue to replicate this model and transmit and spread environmental protection messages from recycling waste. He wishes to have many people accompanying him on this path to protect and preserve this environment, a green lifestyle. Follow Thanh Nien Online

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