Con Dao Island strives to "green" tourism.

Only when individual citizens and tourists become more conscious of their consumption habits will the pressure of plastic waste on the environment truly be reduced.

Every year, Con Dao Island welcomes hundreds of thousands of domestic and international tourists. This has led to increasing environmental pollution pressure, especially from plastic waste. In response to this challenge, Ba Ria - Vung Tau province is implementing many decisive solutions, including leveraging technology and telecommunications networks to spread the message "say no to single-use plastics".

A prolonged burden

The tourism boom has become a significant economic driver, but it has also brought about environmental consequences, particularly a dramatic increase in household waste and plastic waste. According to the latest data from the People's Committee of Con Dao District, the locality generates 20 to 25 tons of household waste daily. However, the only waste treatment plant on the island currently only has the capacity to manually incinerate about 4-5 tons per day. The majority of the remaining waste is forced to accumulate, resulting in an unprocessed waste volume exceeding 100,000 tons, becoming a persistent environmental burden for many years.

Alarmingly, plastic waste accounts for a large proportion of total waste, mainly consisting of bags, bottles, containers, packaging, etc., and much of it originates from tourism activities. At beaches, tourist attractions, and historical sites, a considerable amount of discarded bottles, styrofoam containers, and straws are left behind after each peak season. Due to their non-biodegradable nature, these types of waste, if not properly disposed of, will pollute the soil, water, and air, and negatively impact the marine ecosystem – a vital resource for the island district.

Due to its isolated location in the middle of the ocean, transporting waste to land is a difficult and impractical task because of the high costs. Meanwhile, on-site treatment relies on outdated technology, resulting in toxic emissions and affecting public health. Despite numerous efforts to encourage the replacement of waste with environmentally friendly materials such as cloth bags, paper cups, and grass straws, changes in consumer habits remain slow due to cost and convenience barriers.

In this context, raising public awareness is considered the most fundamental and effective solution. When individual citizens and tourists become more conscious of their consumption habits – refusing single-use plastics, bringing their own water bottles, and reusing bags – the pressure on the environment will truly be reduced. Many localities across the country are choosing a root-cause approach, starting with communication, advocacy, and pilot programs in specific areas before scaling up. Con Dao District, with its position as one of the key and highly symbolic tourist destinations, has the opportunity to lead this journey.

Con Dao is making daily efforts to reduce the amount of waste generated by tourism activities.

Con Dao Island is facing a massive pile of garbage, much of it plastic waste.

Community of Responsibility

Following the directive 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 companies requesting their support in communicating this message 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 visiting Con Dao in 2025. The messages, addressed to the Provincial People's Committee, will encourage everyone to reduce the use of single-use plastic products, contributing to the preservation of a green, clean, and beautiful Con Dao environment. These messages will be sent in both Vietnamese and English. This is one of the concrete solutions within the framework of the "Application of the Circular Economy Model to Serve the Sustainable Socio-Economic Development of Con Dao District" project and a practical step in the context of the island district struggling with the enormous amount of waste accumulated over decades.

Campaigning through text messages helps broaden the reach of the message, touching even those difficult to reach directly, such as short-term tourists, while conveying a strong message about each individual's responsibility towards the environment. "This approach is very new and easily attracts attention, immediately impacting tourists' awareness and encouraging them to be more proactive in bringing their own water bottles and reducing plastic use when visiting the island," said Ms. Nguyen Hai Yen (a tourist from Ho Chi Minh City), adding that this is a very practical campaign, especially for those visiting Con Dao for the first time.

Simultaneously, local authorities and organizations are implementing community communication activities. A prominent example is the "Green Offering Basket" campaign, which calls on residents and tourists to use environmentally friendly materials when offering prayers at spiritual sites, completely replacing plastic bags, styrofoam, and other plastic items. This campaign has now entered its fourth phase and expanded throughout the area, not only contributing to waste reduction but also connecting spiritual traditions with a modern green lifestyle. The amount of plastic waste released into the environment has decreased compared to the same period, especially at spiritual tourism sites, which were once "hot spots" for waste from offerings, fruits, bottled water, plastic bags, etc.

The spirit of environmental protection in Con Dao is also boosted by many innovative community mobilization models. From May 2022 to the present, the "Exchange Trash for Gifts" program, organized by the District Youth Union in collaboration with WWF Vietnam and Six Senses Con Dao, has become a regular activity. People bring beer cans, plastic bottles, old batteries, and milk cartons to exchange for 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, with milk cartons from schools alone accounting for over 1 ton, demonstrating the strong spread of the model to the younger generation.

The People's Committee of Con Dao District stated that controlling the plastic waste brought in by tourists is entirely feasible if there is close coordination between the government, businesses, and the people; the ultimate goal of this series of activities is to create a green living community where not only the government but also every citizen and tourist actively participates in reducing plastic waste. The synchronized solutions currently being implemented in Con Dao are creating a clear ripple effect.

The People's Committee of Ba Ria - Vung Tau province recently announced a plan to attract investment for the Con Dao waste treatment plant project. The project will be located in the Ben Dam area, covering 1.92 hectares, with a designed capacity of 36 tons of waste per day (potentially increasing to 66.23 tons of waste per day). Ba Ria - Vung Tau province requires that the project prioritize the application of technology originating from developed countries such as the G7 and EU; and that the technology owner or provider must provide a commitment or confirmation of the technology.

Source: https://nld.com.vn/con-dao-no-luc-xanh-hoa-du-lich-196250601200828135.htm