Da Nang has paid special attention to raising awareness of garbage classification at source through public outreach campaigns in a bid to encourage people living in each residential area, and each residential group, along with members of each family to play their part to protect the environment. International Development Enterprises (iDE) has coordinated with authorities at local level and relevant agencies in the city to launch public education campaigns to promote the importance of garbage source classification performance in efforts to reduce  plastic waste in residential areas, contributing to encourage the public to reduce their plastic waste and collect their recyclables.

Residents of Phuoc My Ward, Son Tra District attending an iDE-supported awareness-raising session on household-waste classification and plastic waste reduction held in My Thanh 1 residential area. Photo: NHAT HA

Son Tra is one of the city’s best districts that have conducted effectively public education campaigns. Recently, Son Tra District Division of Natural Resources and Environment has worked with iDE and the authorities of An Hai Dong, Phuoc My, Tho Quang, Man Thai, An Hai Bac, Nai Hien Dong, and An Hai Tay wards to open awareness-raising sessions in residential areas. Importance has been attached to organizing environmental festivals, displaying recycled and reused products, as well as collecting recyclable materials in an attempt to promote household-waste classification, and reduce plastic waste.

Such associations and organizations as Son Tra District chapters of the Da Nang Fatherland Front Committee and the Municipal Women's Union, the Municipal Farmers' Association, the Municipal Veterans' Association, the district’s Youth Union organization, the district’s Office of Education and Training, and schools have been opening many awareness-raising sessions, promoting recycling programs in order to ensure successful implementation of a project to improve the natural environment in Son Tra District in the 2021-2025 period, and a project to develop Da Nang into an environmentally friendly city in the 2021-2030 period.

District-wide campaigns to promote household-waste classification have produced positive results thanks to huge efforts of authorities at local level and relevant units, plus active public engagement.

Mr. Pham Thi Xuan Huong, a resident of An Hai Dong Ward, highlighted successful examples in engaging local residents with the ward’s environmental cleanup programs such as cleanup of the beaches and the roads. Furthermore, local  citizens regularly attend iDE-supported  awareness-raising sessions on household-waste classification, thereby raising their environmental awareness, as well as encouraging them to play their part to protect the environment.

Started in May 2021, the iDE-supported  project ‘Creating a Sustainable Circular Economy for Plastic Waste in Viet Nam’ aims to help to ensure that informal waste collectors and their families have long-lasting livelihood improvements and that ocean-bound plastic will become obsolete by strengthening a sustainable and desirable market for recycled plastic.

The long-term vision for this project is to cultivate plastic waste recycling as a profitable venture for everyone involved in the value chain—particularly for local waste collectors and small recycling business owners while reducing the flow of plastic waste into natural environments in coastal cities of Viet Nam.

In order to achieve these goals, with the support of iDE, the Da Nang Department of Natural Resources and Environment has been implementing environmental programs with a focus on creating a favorable environment to build a circular economy for plastics, improving the efficiency and profitability of the city’s partners for plastics circularity, building new connections between elements of value chains, ensuring reliable raw material sources, promoting garbage classification in households and businesses across Da Nang, increasing output demand for recycled plastic products and materials, as well as creating documentation and sharing experiences through presentations, publications and communications.

High priority has been paid to organising a series of environmental events in Son Tra, Ngu Hanh Son, and Thanh Khe districts, and the city as a whole, during the Action Month for the Environment in order to promote garbage classification in households and businesses across the city.

Including were 5 launching ceremonies and environmental festivals which together attracted more than 1,850 participants in total in order to collect recyclables from local residents, as well as help them recycle a variety of items in exchange for cash. As a result, more than 2,590kg of recyclable materials, including over 890kg of plastic waste and plastic bags, were collected from these events.

Mrs. Tran Thi Thuy Ha, the iDE-supported Project Manager, said that iDE has coordinated with the municipal Department of Natural Resources and Environment to effectively raise public awareness through outreach programs and campaigns for household-waste classification with a focus on organizing environmental festivals and events in order to promote waste source separation by encouraging local residents to exchange recyclables found at home for their favorite gifts.

In the coming time, in addition to raising public awareness, the city will continue its efforts to promote linkages and provide support for components of value chains through connection events and training courses for business people and workers who get involved in plastic waste collection and recycling in an effort to help them develop and sharpen their professional skills. Focus will be organizing these activities which are tailored to the needs of each component of the plastics value chain. For example, as for households, heed will be paid to running public education campaigns to promote the importance of plastic waste classification in the community, as well as providing trash bins with waste classification for local residents, including those for plastic waste in residential areas.

Reporting by NHAT HA – Translating by H.L