Over recent years, Da Nang has stepped up the classification of trash at source at residential areas in a bid to uphold the public responsibility in protecting the environment.

Over recent years, many women in Da Nang have been actively involved in sorting trash at the source

On the last Sunday of the month, members of the An Thuong 1 Women's Union in Ngu Hanh Son District’s My An Ward collect and bring such recyclable items as plastic bottles, beer cans and papers to the unit’s resource gathering place for sale.

Money collected from the sale of such recycled items goes to support poor women, people with serious diseases, and school pupils who need help.

Likewise, the waste classification movement has drawn the public attention in My An Ward. Every year, the locality earns 90 million VND from the sale of dozens of tonnes of recyclable waste.

Over recent years, Hai Chau District’s Hai Chau 1 Ward authorties have encourged their residents to promote the sorting of trash at source, and then sell recyclable items to raise fund for helping needy people, instead of throwing them into dustbins for final disposal at the Khanh Son landfill as previously.

The ward plans to work closely with relevant agencies to pilot the trash sorting and treatment model at food and drink eateries on the Pham Hong Thai Street and nearby schools in the locality.

Ms Nguyen Thi Kim Ha, Deputy Head of the Bureau of Environmental Protection under the Da Nang Department of Natural Resources and Environment, highlighted the importance of such meaningful activity in raising public awareness of the harmful impacts of plastic waste on the environment, encouraging them to consume biodegradable products, and promoting the classification of trash right at families into 3 types - organic, inorganic, and recycled. This will significantly contribute to protecting natural resources and the environment, ensuring social welfare and driving the circular economy.

In recent years, Da Nang has cooperated with many domestic and foreign organisations to carry out many projects on waste classification at source and anti-plastic.

Speciafically, the city has inked an agreement with World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) to implement a ‘Plastic Pollution Reduction Urban Area’ project in Thanh Khe District.

The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) has partly funded a project for building a pilot integrated waste management model to reduce the amount of generated waste, optimise trash classification at source, and recycling schemes in the districts of Ngu Hanh Son and Hoa Vang.

In addition, the Institute for Global Environmental Strategies (IGES) has partnered with the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), the University of Leeds, and the Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) to carry out a number of projects on reducing the environmental impact of cities in ASEAN by addressing plastic waste pollution in rivers and oceans.

By HOANG HIEP - Translated by M.D