Over the past 8 years, Mr Dao Dang Cong Trung of Nai Hien Dong Ward, Son Tra District, Da Nang, has spent his free time on collecting litter along roads leading to the Son Tra Peninsula. He hoped that his action would help to partly restore the inherent freshness of the peninsula which is considered as a precious natural gift and a 'green lung' for the city.

Mr Trung is picking up trash along roads leading to the Peninsula.

Trung is the Director of the Trung Ha Thanh Trading and Tourist Service Joint Stock Company. He immediately fell in love with the peninsula when he visited in 2003 for the first time due to its pristine beauty and fresh air.

However, he found that litter was dropped along roads leading to the peninsula while coming back to this beautiful place in 2007 and 2008. In 2010, more garbage was found on the peninsula. Since then, he has started to remove trash in an attempt to make the peninsular cleaner and raising public awareness about environmental protection.  

Wearing a T-shirt and short pants, and holding trash pickup tools in his hands, Mr Trung looks like a cleanup worker rather than a leader of a company.

His meaningful action is done twice a day regardless of whether it was raining or sunny from 6.30am - 8.00am, and 5.30pm - 6.30pm from Mondays to Fridays per week.

Each time, he removes between 10 and 15 kg of garbage from the roads with the majority of foam boxes, plastic water bottles, beer and soft drinks cans, motorcycle debris and bubble tea plastic cups. After that, he classifies collected garbage and put them in public bins.

According to Mr Trung, the ‘Ho Xanh’ (Green Lake) tourist area and the border gate guard station near Bai Bac, Ghenh Bang and Mui Nghe tourist sites are rubbish hotspots on the peninsula. He explained the reason that these places are best places in the city to enjoy stunning panoramic views of the city from above, and shoot beautiful photos. As a result, these places always receive a large number of visitors and more litter is found there.  

In addition to picking up trash on the Son Tra Peninsula, Mr Trung has a habit of collecting rubbish around his house, and any places where he visits.

Notably, he has also encouraged tour bookers through his company to become actively involved in clearing trash from local attractions where they visit with his company support through providing bags, gloves and trash pickup tools for them.  

Thanks to his meaningful action over the past 8 years, Mr Trung has helped to make the Son Tra Peninsula cleaner and more beautiful, as well as spread the love of nature and the awareness of environmental protection to his family members, friends and relatives.

“I and many young people are very impressed by Mr Trung’s perseverance and wholeheartedness in keeping the Son Tra Peninsula cleaner and greener. Hence, we are always ready to go with Mr Trung to clear trash from the peninsula”, 28-year-old Pham Duy Dien who is residing in Cam Le District’s Hoa Xuan Ward said.