Bui Ngoa Waste Treatment Team

(Baonghean) - For more than two years now, residents of four hamlets in Bui Ngoa area, Hung Trung commune (Hung Nguyen district) have become familiar with the sight of young people pushing modified carts into people's homes on Sundays to collect scrap materials and waste. This model was built from the idea of ​​young man Nguyen Thanh Thach, born in 1987 - a member of the Executive Committee of the Hung Nguyen District Youth Union, a member of the Standing Committee of the Hung Trung Commune Youth Union, and also the Head of the Youth Committee of Bui Ngoa Parish...

Hung Trung is a low-lying commune, considered the "waterlogged heart" of Hung Nguyen district. Just one rain shower brings in a flood of water and waste from all over. Concerned about the villagers' habit of indiscriminately dumping household waste along the village roads, and lacking the resources to build a centralized waste disposal site, Nguyen Thanh Thach, with the desire to protect the local environment and make it greener, cleaner, and more beautiful, came up with the idea of ​​establishing a waste collection and processing team for four hamlets with approximately 100 households in Bui Ngoa area. This would both protect the environment and generate funds for the team's activities.

A group of young people collecting waste in the Bui Ngoa parish area.

Every last Sunday of the month, four youth garbage collection teams (each with 20 people) go from house to house collecting recyclable materials and waste for processing. Biodegradable waste is burned or buried, while recyclable waste such as bottles and cardboard is sold to raise funds for activities such as visiting and giving gifts to the sick, rewarding outstanding students, organizing social events, and building a volleyball court. In the very first month of operation, the team earned 3 million dong from selling recyclable materials. Thach organized visits to encourage and support households with long-term illnesses, such as Mr. Nguyen Van Trinh in Hamlet 6, who has been paralyzed for 7-8 years, and Mr. Thu in Hamlet 7, who is disabled and uses a wheelchair. This helped build trust and support among the local people. In 2012, with 14 million VND raised from collecting waste and scrap materials, and with the support of the higher-level youth union, Nguyen Thanh Thach and the youth in Bui Ngoa parish built a volleyball court for recreational activities for the youth union members. In 2013, over 12 million VND was used for Christmas camping; organizing visits and gift-giving to leprosy patients in Quynh Lap (Quynh Luu); and awarding 28 gifts to diligent and academically excellent students… Many young people also collected scrap materials from their families and voluntarily handed them over to collection groups without receiving payment, contributing to helping the community.

As a member of the District Youth Union Executive Committee and the Commune Youth Union Standing Committee, young man Nguyen Thanh Thach enthusiastically advised and participated in environmental sanitation activities of youth union members in the commune, most notably the "Green Sunday" campaign to clean up the environment in the area, especially along the central road of the commune and into the alleys and hamlets. At its peak, it attracted up to 600 youth union members. In 2013, the Hung Trung Commune Youth Union had two youth projects worth over 5 million VND, mainly focusing on repairing transportation and irrigation infrastructure, dredging canals, and environmental sanitation. During the year, they collected more than one ton of waste and cleaned over 10km of rural roads. Speaking about his plans for the new year, youth leader Nguyen Thanh Thach said that the funds raised from collecting scrap and waste will be used to build two parking garages for parishioners in the area to attend catechism classes, worship services, and participate in volunteer activities for the benefit of the community.

Nguyen Van Vy, Secretary of the Hung Trung Commune Youth Union, said: “Nguyen Thanh Thach's practical actions have helped the people and youth union members gradually form the habit of working together to keep the environment greener, cleaner, and more beautiful. This is a model that needs to be replicated to create a ripple effect and attract more youth union members to participate.”

For his practical activities in the movement to unite and mobilize young people to participate in environmental protection, in 2013, Mr. Nguyen Thanh Thach was honored to receive a certificate of commendation from the Provincial Youth Union recognizing him as an exemplary religious youth.

Text and photos:Khanh Ly