More than 2,000 people have taken part in a programme to clean beaches in the central city of Da Nang.

The programme, part of activities to respond to the “Clean Up the World” Campaign 2019, was organised on Saturday to collect trash around Tho Quang fishing port – one of the most polluted areas of the city.

It is expected to raise public awareness of the harm of plastic waste to the economy, society, environment and people’s health, while calling for the community to reduce plastic waste for a greener environment.

Le Trung Chinh, vice chairman of the Da Nang People’s Committee said: “Da Nang has faced many problems in managing and treating domestic solid waste and deal with pollution hotspots.

“In recent years, the amount of domestic solid waste in Da Nang has risen rapidly to over 1,100 tonnes per day, while the ratio of plastic waste also increased about 5-14 per cent.”

Meanwhile, the infrastructure for the collection and treatment of solid waste in the city has yet to meet requirements, Chinh added.

He called on all localities, agencies, organisations, businesses and individuals in the city to collaborate to build a green and clean city with specific and practical actions.

The “Clean Up the World” campaign was first launched by Australia in 1993 and has become a global campaign involving more than 130 countries around the world.

In Viet Nam, the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment has chosen “local actions, global influence” as the theme for the 2019 campaign, focusing on reducing plastic waste.

Viet Nam aims to have all urban supermarkets, markets and shops free from single-use plastic products in 2021, and a country without disposable plastic products in 2025.

Thirty trash bins were given to the city by the environmental ministry on the same day. 

Young volunteers join hand to clean up Da Den beach on Son Tra peninsula Rocky terrain is a challenge for members of ‘Cleaning of Son Tra’ group in collecting trash on Da Den beach Rocky terrain is a challenge for members of ‘Cleaning of Son Tra’ group in collecting trash on Da Den beach Plastic waste is picked up and put into large bags       South African tourist Callan Meyer joins Vietnamese youngsters in cleaning up the beach Certified scuba-divers also join the group in cleaning Da Den beach Trash bags are loaded on boats and brought to the city’s dump for treatment   Thousands of trash bags have been collected during four months of collecting garbage on Da Den beach Da Den beach gains back its pristine beauty after being cleaned up by young environmental advocates

VNA/VNP/VNS/VNN