This piece is written by Danica Ratte, Wild Tussah’s Founder, on her experience living in Vietnam.

Having lived in Vietnam for 10 months now in various local areas as well as with a Vietnamese family, I have learned that while there’s a lot of consumption here, there’s also a lot of ways Vietnamese people are more resourceful than people in other countries. Here are a few.

Dry leftover cooked rice

Why do you think rice is being left out to dry? I noticed a few months into my stay that there was always rice on the side of the street, but had never really found the answer as to why. Then in an expat forum I’m a part of, a foreigner finally asked the same question that was in the back of my mind.

We found out that leftover cooked rice is set out in the sun to dry for a few reasons:

To make fried rice

To make a rice cake called Cơm cháy

To feed the animals of the house

Most times we just throw away leftovers after we are finished, but that’s a huge waste!

Plastic bottles are reused as… plastic bottles.

You might be shocked when you first arrive in Vietnam that your garbage is often looked through right outside your front door by people who are looking for things to reuse or resell. The first time I experienced this was when I was on my way out and found one of my “To do” sticky notes on the ground outside the garbage bag. This put a whole new meaning to shredding documents you don’t want to be seen!

As water purification is an issue here, you cannot drink directly out of the tap. You have to either buy drinks from the store or drink boiled water from the kettle. Therefore, there is a greater amount of plastic bottle usage than in other countries.

I learned that there are people who look for used plastic bottles to either resell to drink companies or to street stands. It made me realize how ridiculous it is that we only recycle plastic bottles into other things. This takes a lot of resources and often parts of the plastic bottle, like the bottle cap, cannot be recycled.

Restaurant waste is taken to farmers

Recycling food waste doesn’t stop at the individual household. Restaurants call in truck companies that pick up the waste, store it in a big drum and take it to farmers who can feed it to their animals.

Everything is eaten here

Let’s face it, Vietnamese people eat almost anything. In the beginning I used to not ask what was in my soup, for fear I’d go hungry. Now, after being here for this long, I have become a bit desensitized. I could probably write a whole piece on Vietnam’s most ‘bizarre’ foods, but here are a few simple things I’ve noticed on a daily basis, without mentioning the unusual use of animal parts.

Herbs: You don’t just use the leaves when you are cooking with herbs, but the whole stalk as well. Coriander (for my UK/Aus friends) or cilantro (for my American friends) is a key ingredient in Vietnamese dishes and it wouldn’t be a Vietnamese banh mi sandwich without the stalk and all.

Coconut: Every part of the coconut is used; its water for drinking; its milk for cooking, its oil for hair products, soap or cosmetics, its meat for eating, the husk for making anything that requires fibers like carpets, flower pots, door mats or charcoal, and finally its shell for bowls, cups, ladles or planters.

Banana: Not only is the ripe banana fruit eaten here, but also the flower as well as green bananas.

Grapefruit: The skin can be used to make a dessert, or a natural shampoo, or even a mosquito repellent.

Mangosteen: The mangosteen leftovers are collected and used as medicine to treat many different conditions. You will often see a lady on the side of the road with a tarp and a collection of mangosteen bark.

Com tam, a.k.a. broken rice: These rice grains have been broken during harvesting unintentionally and would normally be thrown out in other countries because they are not the perfect length, but here this kind of rice has turned into a very famous and commonly eaten dish.

Water from cleaning rice: After rinsing rice before cooking, the leftover water can be used as a facial cleaner, for watering plants or cleaning dishes.

Preserved meat, fruits and vegetables: Most meals come with sides of pickled carrot and daikon, fermented pork wrapped in banana leaves, pickled spring onions or pickled green mangoes. I hope you like things pickled!

Smart Use of Space

Here, houses normally include the family business on the ground level and the living space on top. We have huge portions of cities taken over by office buildings that are empty a good part of the year. It’s a huge waste of space and resources. Don’t get me started on Delaware!

Don’t throw it out- fix it

There is someone on every corner who is skilled in repairing. Often times we throw things away because it would cost more to fix them than to buy a new one, or you would have to search around for ages to find the person who specializes in the repair. But here in Vietnam, there’s a repairman on every corner. A few things that are easily fixed, that I used to throw out:

Shoes- If your heel falls off or your shoes are scuffed, take them to the shoe repairman.

Sunglasses- If your sunglass lenses have too many scratches, you want a different color lense or part of the sunglasses is bent, take it to your local glasses shop.

Clothing Alterations- If you’ve decided your dress is too long or the sleeves hole is too big, take it to your local seamstress.

A door to door recycle man or ‘ve chai’

This isn’t your standard recycle truck that comes by a couples times a week. ‘Ve chai’ is a kind of business where people go around in surrounding areas with their trailers and ask for used or broken things from households. If you can’t or don’t want to get it fixed yourself then you give your stuff to a ‘ve chai’, and they take it to be sold to retailers or handyman shops. If you need someone to come by, all you have to do is look at their pickup schedule or give them a call. Items that they pick up can include:

Old newspapers, which are recycled

Used books, which are resold to used book stores

Used clothes that can be resold at local markets

Home appliances, TVs or broken electric fans that can be fixed and resold

Every day I am learning new ways in which things can be recycled, reused and repurposed here. This country is an endless world of wonder!

If you can think of other ways you’ve found people to be resourceful during your travels, I’d love to hear about it! Please leave your comments down below.