Every year, Con Dao welcomes hundreds of thousands of domestic and international tourists. This has caused the place to face increasing pressure from environmental pollution, especially from plastic waste. Faced with this challenge, Ba Ria - Vung Tau province is implementing many drastic solutions, including utilizing technology and telecommunications networks to convey the message of "say no to single-use plastics".
The burden lasts
The boom in tourism has become an important economic driver, but at the same time it has also brought about environmental consequences, especially the exponential increase in the amount of household waste and plastic waste. According to the latest figures from the People's Committee of Con Dao district, the locality generates 20 to 25 tons of household waste every day. However, the only waste treatment plant on the island is currently only capable of manually burning about 4 to 5 tons per day. Most of the remaining waste is forced to stagnate, causing the amount of untreated waste to exceed 100,000 tons, becoming an environmental burden that has lasted for many years.
Worryingly, plastic waste accounts for a large proportion of the total amount of waste, mainly including bags, bottles, jars, packaging, etc. and mostly comes from tourism activities. At beaches, tourist attractions, and historical sites, many bottles, foam boxes, and straws are left behind after each peak season. With the characteristic of being difficult to decompose, if these types of waste are not properly treated, they will pollute the land, water, and air, and negatively impact the marine ecosystem - the vital resource of the island district.
Due to its isolated location in the middle of the ocean, transporting waste to the mainland becomes an impossible task due to the high cost. Meanwhile, on-site treatment depends on outdated technology, causing toxic emissions, affecting public health. Although there have been many efforts to encourage replacement with environmentally friendly materials such as cloth bags, paper cups, grass straws, etc., changing consumer habits is still slow due to barriers of cost and convenience.
In that context, raising public awareness is considered the most fundamental and effective solution. When each citizen and tourist is more conscious in their consumption behavior - refusing to use disposable plastic, bringing personal water bottles, reusing bags - the pressure on the environment will truly be reduced. Many localities across the country are choosing a grassroots approach, starting with communication, advocacy, and piloting each area before expanding. Con Dao district, as one of the key and highly symbolic tourist areas, is facing the opportunity to take the lead in that journey.
Con Dao is making efforts every day to reduce the amount of waste from tourism activities.
Con Dao faces a giant mountain of garbage, mostly plastic waste.
Community responsibility
Implementing the direction of the Chairman of the People's Committee of Ba Ria - Vung Tau province on promoting the goal of reducing plastic waste, especially moving towards completely eliminating single-use plastic products in Con Dao, the Department of Science and Technology recently sent a document to telecommunications businesses requesting support in communicating to the community.
Accordingly, the Department of Science and Technology proposed that Viettel Ba Ria - Vung Tau and Mobifone Ba Ria - Vung Tau branch support sending SMS messages to all residents and tourists when coming to Con Dao in 2025. The content of the message calls on everyone to join hands to limit the use of disposable plastic products, contributing to preserving the green - clean - beautiful environment of Con Dao, sent by the Provincial People's Committee, expressed in Vietnamese and English. This is one of the specific solutions within the framework of the Project "Application of circular economic model to serve sustainable socio-economic development of Con Dao district" and is a practical move in the context that the island district is struggling with a huge amount of waste accumulated for decades.
Campaigning through text messages helps expand the scope of propaganda, reaching even those who are difficult to reach directly, such as short-term tourists, while conveying a strong message about each individual's responsibility for the living environment. "This method is very new and easy to attract attention, immediately affecting the awareness of tourists, while helping tourists be more proactive in bringing their own water bottles, limiting the use of plastic when going to the island" - Ms. Nguyen Hai Yen (tourist from Ho Chi Minh City) expressed and considered this a very practical campaign, especially for those who set foot in Con Dao for the first time.
At the same time, local authorities and organizations and associations are simultaneously implementing community communication activities. Notably, the "Green Basket" campaign calls on people and tourists to use environmentally friendly materials when making offerings at spiritual sites, completely replacing plastic bags, foam, and plastic items. This campaign has now entered phase 4 and expanded throughout the area, not only contributing to reducing waste but also connecting spiritual traditions with modern green lifestyles. The amount of plastic waste discharged into the environment has decreased compared to the same period, especially at spiritual tourist sites, which used to be "hot spots" for waste from offerings, fruits, bottled drinks, plastic bags, etc.
The spirit of environmental protection in Con Dao is also supported by many creative mass mobilization models. Since May 2022, the "Exchange trash for gifts" program organized by the District Youth Union in coordination with WWF Vietnam and Six Senses Con Dao has become a regular activity. People bring beer cans, plastic bottles, old batteries, milk cartons to the gift exchange point, which are items such as cloth bags, scented candles, books, and bamboo chopsticks. By early 2025, the program had collected more than 2.2 tons of recyclable waste, of which milk cartons from schools alone accounted for more than 1 ton, demonstrating the strong spread of the model to the younger generation.
The People's Committee of Con Dao district said that controlling the plastic items tourists bring is completely feasible if there is close coordination between the government, businesses and people; the ultimate goal of the series of activities is to create a green living community, where not only the government but also each person and tourist proactively participates in reducing plastic waste. The current synchronous solutions in Con Dao are creating a clear ripple effect.
The People's Committee of Ba Ria - Vung Tau province has recently announced a plan to call for investment in the Con Dao waste treatment plant project. Accordingly, the project is located in Ben Dam area, with an area of 1.92 hectares; with a design capacity of 36 tons of waste/day (potential to increase capacity to 66.23 tons of waste/day). Ba Ria - Vung Tau province requires the project to prioritize the application of technology lines originating from developed countries such as G7, EU; with a commitment or confirmation of technology from the technology owner or technology transfer provider.
Source: https://nld.com.vn/con-dao-no-luc-xanh-hoa-du-lich-196250601200828135.htm
Comment (0)