With a desire to reduce the amount of waste in the environment and raise public awareness about garbage classification, the Centre for Development of Community Initiative and Environment (C&E) cooperates with volunteers of the ‘Zero Waste Community’ project to turn a private land on Morrison Street, Son Tra District into a community garden.

Members of the ‘Zero Waste Community’ project are excited about the green garden from waste. Photo: T.V

The turning of vacant land into a community garden is part of the ‘Zero Waste Community’ project which has been carried out since February 2022, attracting the participation of many young people, especially students, citywide.

Ms. Vu Hong Thanh, co-founder of the ‘Zero Waste Community’ project in Da Nang, said that the 350m² garden once was unused land. Over time, it has turned into a vacant land and then a dumpsite with people throwing away unnecessary stuff here, causing environmental pollution.

“That makes us think why we don’t take advantage of the area for gardening and provide the children in the neighborhood a place to learn how to grow vegetables” she added.

After that, members of the project contacted the landowner to borrow the land for doing gardening, and luckily they got the landowner’s agreement.

For many days in a row, the members together cleaned up the land and cut the grass. The land is divided into 3 areas for growing medicinal plants (lemon, lemongrass, wormwood, perilla), flowers (chrysanthemum, marigold) and vegetables (cabbage, tomato, spinach).

Over the past one year, members of the project have visited neighbouring houses to collect domestic waste to classify and compost for plants.

“The model of turning waste into green garden is popular in many countries around the world. However, in Viet Nam it is still quite new. Therefore, I hope that the activity will raise public awareness about ensuring environmental protection, promoting the classification of solid waste at source, and making the use of waste to plant trees, thereby helping to reduce a large amount of domestic waste” Ms. Thanh noted.

According to members of the project, because this model really needs the support of the people, so they try to mobilise and explain to the people how meaningful garbage classification is.

Initially, the project only drew attention from a few households, but now the number of volunteers for the project has increased to 30.

Each day, members process up to 40kilos of organic waste and divide it into 4 categories: high-value recyclable waste (cans, plastic bottles, hard papers), low-value plastic waste (packaging, foam boxes, milk cartons), landfill waste and organic waste.

Since 2022, the project has composted nearly 11 tonnes of waste. In addition, more than 600kilos of low-value plastic waste has been sent to the collection point for recycling.

Tran Thi Thu Hien, a project member, confided that aside from school hours, she and her friends were quite excited to participate in such community events, especially about environmental protection activities.

“By joining the project for more than one year, I have learned how to sort garbage and many other soft skills and useful knowledge. I hope in the future there will be more practical activities and projects like this for everyone to create a livable environment together” Hien said.

Ms. Huynh Ba Thao Uyen, living on Dong Kinh Nghia Thuc Street, Son Tra District, said "In the past, my family did not have the habit of sorting garbage. However, after being told about the meaningful project, I spend time sorting waste, bringing it to volunteers to compost plants. Every afternoon, I go to the garden to water and take care of the trees together with everyone. For me, the project helps spread the spirit of solidarity and raise public awareness about building a cleaner and more beautiful living environment”.

In addition to adults, many child members get actively involved in the project. The ‘Vy and friends’ group, consisting of young people living in residential group No 56 in An Hai Bac Ward, is a typical example.

Every day, Nguyen Quang Vy, a pupil of the grade 6/12 of the Tay Son Junior High School, calls on people in the residential area to sort their trash and form a zero-waste lifestyle.

According to Vy, plastic straws are terrible for the environment. They can take 100-500 years to decompose in landfills, and oftentimes end up in our oceans where they endanger marine life. Therefore, he and his friend buyt stainless steel straws to use.

Every afternoon, the group members collect sorted waste from neighbours, then bring it to the community garden for composting.

“Despite being tired, I and my friends are very happy because we have done a good job for the environment and the neighborhood" Vy underlined.

Mr. Nguyen Hoang Viet, Vice Chairman of the People's Committee of Son Tra District highlighted the meaningfulness of the project in building a zero-waste community and helping people be more aware of the daily waste classification.

Reporting by HUYNH TUONG VY - Translating by M.DUNG