It has become a habit that for nearly 2 years now, every last Sunday of the month, many people, along with women in Group 4, Quyet Thang Ward, Son La City, bring all kinds of plastic waste and recyclable scrap, which have been collected and classified, to the "Green House for Charity Fundraising" of the group's women's association.

Mr. Hoang Minh Viet, a resident of Group 4, shared: Realizing the harmful effects of plastic waste on the environment, while there are activities of women collecting plastic waste to raise charity funds to help the poor, he and everyone else find it very meaningful so they actively respond.

The Green House for Charity Fundraising of the Son La Women's Union at all levels is a receiving point for plastic waste and recyclable scrap.

According to Ms. Pham Thi Thinh, head of the Women's Union of Group 4, Quyet Thang Ward, Son La City: The "Green House for Charity Fundraising" of the women's union was deployed from the end of 2022, on the basis of utilizing corrugated iron and steel to build a mobile house for women and people to store and collect plastic waste. Every Sunday at the end of the month, women come together to the "Green House for Charity Fundraising" to sort waste and sell it as scrap. Up to now, the "Green House" model of the women's union has collected about 10 tons of plastic waste, raising nearly 10 million VND for fundraising.

“We try to maintain, promote better and call on more women to join hands to better implement the plastic waste collection model. To keep the environment green-clean-beautiful and help difficult circumstances.” - Ms. Thinh added.

From 10 pilot models of “Green House for Charity Fundraising” with nearly 400 female members, up to now, the Women’s Union at all levels in Son La province has expanded the model to 68 more points in 12 districts and cities, with over 2,700 members actively participating. On average, each month, the models have collected and classified a large amount of plastic waste and recyclable scrap. Each model has earned from 300,000 to 500,000 VND from this activity.

Every month, women organize to sort plastic waste and sell scrap to raise funds for charity.

Ms. Vi Thi Binh, Vice President of the Women's Union of Son La province, said: "The Women's Union of the province continues to propagate to women members and people in the whole province to effectively prevent plastic waste pollution. We will replicate typical models that have been operating effectively. Propaganda about the usefulness of green houses, encourage districts and cities to apply them in their localities."

According to statistics from the Department of Natural Resources and Environment of Son La province, each year, the total amount of plastic waste generated in the area is on average about 10,630 tons. Of which, the amount of collected plastic waste is estimated at nearly 8,400 tons/year, the rest is the amount that has not been collected. Along with the model "Green House for Charity Fundraising", in the province there are also many models of youth union members such as: "Exchanging paper, plastic, cans for trees", "People's market to reduce plastic waste", "Inventing toys, souvenirs from cans, plastic bottles" ...

Many agencies, units and businesses in the province have switched from using plastic bottled water to using glass bottles, paper water bottles and other environmentally friendly materials; not using plastic cups, plastic straws and minimizing the use of hard-to-decompose nylon bags.

From the "Green House" model, every month, a large amount of plastic waste has been collected, classified and sold as scrap by women in the mountainous areas of Son La to raise charity funds.

Mr. Thieu Quang Phi Hung, Deputy Head of the Environmental Management Department, Department of Natural Resources and Environment of Son La province said: “The implementation of the above models has also contributed to promoting and propagating the prevention of plastic waste pollution and saying no to disposable plastic products. These activities also contribute to forming the habit of collecting, classifying, reusing and recycling daily plastic waste of people, organizations and individuals”.

Plastic waste that is not collected and treated properly will pollute the living environment, causing great impacts on human health. Because each type of plastic waste has a different decomposition time from several decades, hundreds of years, even some types up to thousands of years. Each citizen, with their "small actions - great meaning", will join hands to prevent plastic waste pollution, for the environment and green life./.

Nguyen Thi Bich Thuy/VOV Northwest