Each person has a different way of contributing to making this life better. With Trash Hero Da Nang, its simple yet greatly significant mission is to call on the whole community to reduce the use of plastic and preserve the living environment. The statement was made by Ms. Mai Thi Kim Anh, in charge of the Trash Hero Da Nang group during an afternoon of participating in picking up trash at Son Thuy Beach in Ngu Hanh Son District.

The Trash Hero Da Nang group’s members join environmental cleanups.

Established in September 2022 with members who are foreign tourists and ex-pats residing in Da Nang and many local inhabitants, the volunteer group has been contributing to the journey of turning Da Nang into a green - clean - beautiful central coastal city.

1. Benjamin Lawson (also informally called Ben) fell in love with Da Nang on a trip to Viet Nam. Deeply impressed with Da Nang’s fresh nature and friendly residents, the American man decided to work and live here. Particularly interested in the city’s environment, Ben always hopes to contribute a small part to preserving the landscape from the smallest things, specifically proactively picking up trash. From that desire, he and his wife, Ms. Bui Thi Linh, joined hands to found Trash Hero Da Nang.

Before that, Ben and Linh had appealed for many people to participate in trash picking and environmental cleanup sessions. From this highly practical activity, the young couple had more joy to connect with new friends inside and outside Da Nang, especially many foreigners. Since then, the group's activities have been maintained, attracting a large number of participants.

From the initial number of about 10 people, the number of volunteers at the Trash Hero Da Nang is increasing day by day, sometimes reaching 20-30 people. Regardless of acquaintance or stranger, age, nationality or skin colour, they connect with one another by love of nature and awareness of preserving a sustainable environment.

Through social networks, the Trash Hero Da Nang managing board is in charge of creating cleanup events and kept the group’s members of specific schedules and locations for trash removal. When the group's activities stabilized, the couple Ben - Linh continued to spread Trash Hero's message into Hoi An in the neighbouring province of Quang Nam.

2. For the time being, the Trash Hero Da Nang is part of the international organization Trash Hero World. Joining for nearly a year now, Ms. Mai Thi Kim Anh has become the group's leader in weekly activities.

Every Saturday afternoon, after arranging personal work at a vegetarian restaurant on Tay An Thuong Street, Ms. Anh and her members bring sacks and trash cans with them to do the cleanups. Some people who live 20 kilometers away from the cleanup location, nearly, they were still willing to ride their motorbikes to arrive at the venue on time. Others take taxi rides to the meeting point. Thanks to their enthusiasm, as of March 2024, there had been more than 60 trash cleanup sessions held at such locations as Nguyen Phan Vinh Park, Thuan Phuoc Bridge, Man Quang Bay, Chuong Duong Street, Son Thuy Beach. At each venue, the group once collected nearly a dozen bags of waste.

As a member of the group since the early days, Mr. Phoenix Transtar, an American nationality, views the story of cleaning up trash not only as protecting the environment but also as a journey to help the community. Being aware of ‘loving for the land and people, love for everything belonging to Da Nang’, he joined the group.

Phoenix said, plastic bags and cups discharged into the environment or burned are very harmful to the environment and human health. Limiting the use of single-use plastic items or reusing plastic bags is a simple thing that anyone can do. People can bring containers whenever they buy food, instead of using plastic bags or use personal drinking glasses with lids rather than using plastic cups taken away from coffee shops. Every small action has great meaning.

All of the above messages were shared by the Trash Hero Da Nang on the group's fanpage to spread the message of green living and building a community to limit plastic waste. In the coming time, the Trash Hero Da Nang hopes to have more connections and companionship from individuals and groups in the whole community in preserving a green - clean - beautiful environment.

“Each person has a different way of contributing to making this life better. With the Trash Hero Da Nang, the key is the story calling on the community to reduce and limit the use of plastic and preserve the living environment. While foreigners residing in Da Nang or international tourists are dedicated to protecting the city’s environment, local residents like me cannot be indifferent to what is going on," Ms. Anh said.

Reporting by LAM VIEN - Translating by A.THU