Quynh Bang Commune (Quynh Luu) is one of the localities selected to pilot the household waste classification model, with women's unions at all levels taking on the main role. In households participating in the model, with their own capital or support from the women's union, each family has 3 trash bins placed next to each other. When there is household waste, the women classify and put it into each bin. For many years now, for women in this coastal commune, trash is no longer something to be thrown away, causing environmental pollution, but has become a "source" to generate funds for association activities.
Every month, on the opening day of the “Green House”, the women of Tan Hai hamlet, Quynh Bang commune eagerly gather with the joy of “having an extra amount of money to put into the fund”. Ms. Ho Thi Hoa - Head of the Women's Association of Tan Hai hamlet said: “Green House” is a place to collect solid household waste that cannot be decomposed if disposed of in the environment, rivers, lakes, mainly bottles, cans, plastic shells, plastic bags, paper and cardboard. While quickly sorting the waste, Ms. Ho Thi Phuong - a member of the Women's Association of Tan Hai hamlet said that every day if the waste can be sold for money, the women bring it to the “Green House”. At the end of the month, the women come together to sort and sell it to scrap dealers. Beer cans are sold for 450 VND/can, paper waste is sold for 1.5 thousand VND/kg, plastic items are sold for 4.5 thousand VND/kg... Every month, we contribute 450 - 500 thousand VND to the association's fund.
Thanks to the money earned from the “Green Houses”, every year many poor member households are given breeding animals to develop their economy, and are given health insurance cards for medical examination and treatment. “In 2020, I had a stroke and had to go to the hospital for a long time. My 5 children had to be taken care of by their elderly grandparents. Many times the family was exhausted. Luckily, the Women's Union of the hamlet gave me a health insurance card, so my medical expenses were greatly supported, so now I can recover and return home with my children,” said Ms. Ho Thi Ngan in Tan Hai hamlet.
Talking more about Ms. Ngan's family situation, the head of the association, Ho Thi Hoa, said that Ms. Ngan's family is near-poor, has a disabled daughter, and her husband is often sick, so having a health insurance card will help reduce a lot of medical examination and treatment costs. Sympathizing with Ms. Ngan's family situation, from the source of selling scrap, the association bought a health insurance card for her. In addition, in Tan Hai hamlet, the women's association gave health insurance cards to 2 other families and gave 70 breeding chickens to families of women in difficult circumstances to develop their economy, also from the revenue of the "Green House".
Ms. Le Thi Ha - President of the Women's Union of Quynh Luu district said that implementing the Project "Propaganda and mobilizing rural women to proactively participate in environmental protection, contributing to the construction of new rural areas in Nghe An province in the period of 2018 - 2021", deploying many models to protect the environment... Women's Unions at all levels in Quynh Luu district have increasingly gained many benefits, limiting waste to the environment. In addition to the "Green House" model, there is also the model "Classifying and treating waste at households" that has created a fund to buy 60 trash bins to give to disadvantaged households. In particular, in 2022, making money from waste will donate 1,204 gifts, 175 health insurance cards, 3,984 breeding animals... worth nearly 250 million VND to women in difficult circumstances throughout the district.
Many people have made activated carbon and paper pulp from corn stalks, but making flower baskets from corn is probably only possible in Hung Nguyen district. The waste products from corn after harvest are brought back by local people, washed, dried, treated against rot... and then made into flower baskets with high usage value.
Ms. Le Thi Thanh Nhung - Vice President of the Women's Union of Hung Nguyen district said: "As a unique and environmentally friendly product, flower baskets made from corn husks have attracted the attention of distributors in many provinces and cities. The cooperative also considers this a key product and continues to improve and research to use corn husks to produce other handicraft products. The flower basket made from corn husks by Long Xa commune people has been recognized as a 3-star OCOP product."
Born in Hung Nguyen village, the endless green corn fields of Lam River alluvial plain have become familiar to the people here. And the bright yellow husks of old corn when harvested are an idea for Mr. Hoang Minh Khanh in Thanh Son hamlet, Long Xa commune and the villagers not to waste, but to use to make flower baskets.
Mr. Hoang Minh Khanh - Director of Khanh Quang Production and General Services Cooperative said: Being a locality with a very large area of alluvial land along the river, Long Xa commune people mainly grow corn for grain. Previously, after harvesting, people threw corn plants haphazardly on the dike, outside the land, emitting a foul smell, or burned them, causing smoke and dust to pollute the environment. After many struggles and experiments, Khanh Quang Production and General Services Cooperative has succeeded in using this type of waste that is familiar to the villagers into very sophisticated flower baskets. “About 4 years ago, we used corn husks to weave flower baskets. Every year, more than 100,000 flower baskets have been produced by the cooperative to supply the market from Thanh Hoa to Da Nang, bringing in a revenue of 250 million VND. Currently, the cooperative is creating jobs for 20 local workers and 150 seasonal workers” - Mr. Khanh shared.
In Hung Nguyen district, women's associations at all levels have spread many activities with flexible methods, turning waste into familiar and useful objects that serve both study and daily life, and reduce spending costs. For example, on the occasion of the Mid-Autumn Festival 2022, in response to the Campaign "Make the world cleaner", 18/18 women's associations in Hung Nguyen district enthusiastically started implementing the model "Recycling is so easy and lovely". Women's association members collected household waste in their own families (cans, plastic, cardboard, colored paper) and turned those wastes into 420 lanterns and cute toys to give to children to celebrate the Mid-Autumn Festival. Or launching the movement "Love Journey of Tires", women in Hung Nguyen district advised the district People's Committee to support 20 million VND, women's union members contributed their efforts and skills to make 3 swings in Hung Tan, Hung Dao, Hung Thong communes and 43 play corners for children in cultural houses of blocks and hamlets throughout the district.
In addition, every day, the “fire keepers” of the family in Hung Nguyen district persistently implement the model of “Classifying and processing waste at home”. Each family classifies waste by type and each household has a mini-garbage pit. Accordingly, animal carcasses that decompose quickly will be buried in the mini-garbage pit; avoiding the collection in the household’s garbage bags or collection at the garbage transfer station, causing environmental pollution. Types of waste that can be composted into inorganic fertilizer are used for production.
In particular, collecting recyclable waste such as plastic, metal, etc. to utilize the collected funds to implement activities is very meaningful. Typically, the activity "Turning waste into flowers", the funds collected from recycled waste will be used to buy flower seeds, waste that can be composted will be used to take care of flowers. Up to now, there have been many beautiful flower roads in the area from this model, such as in the communes of Hung Tan, Hung Xa, Hung Thang, Hung Tay... With the activity "Turning waste into health insurance cards", after 3 months of implementation, the whole district has awarded 96 health insurance cards, typically in the communes of Hung Thong, Hung Tay, Hung Phuc, Hung Thinh, ... Or with the activity "Turning waste into breeding animals", the whole district has had 4,300 breeding chickens given to families of women's union members in difficult circumstances in the communes of Hung Loi, Hung Nhan...
Up to now, the women's associations at all levels in the province are implementing many environmental protection models with rich and diverse forms, suitable to the conditions of the region, contributing to solving local problems; in which, focusing on the models of "Classifying waste at the source", turning waste into useful products such as "Turning waste into breeding animals", "Turning waste into health insurance cards", "Turning waste into flower streets", "Turning waste into playgrounds and entertainment areas for children", the model "Clean house, clean alley, clean environment"; the model "Clean house, beautiful adjacent garden", "Clean house, adjacent model garden";...
Ms. Phan Thi Anh Tam - Head of Family - Society Department, Provincial Women's Union said: In the province, there are nearly 400 models of waste classification and treatment at source and 700 models of turning waste into useful things, helping nearly 6,900 members, women and children in difficult circumstances. This model has been replicated in many areas across the province with many different "missions" of waste that have been creatively and appropriately used by local Women's Unions at many levels, through activities and movements in the locality and at each time.
