Hundreds of volunteers picked up trash after the April 30 parade

When the parade spectators had thinned out, Minh Khoa, 22 years old, took out a pair of gloves, tongs, and plastic bags from his backpack and started picking up trash around Le Loi Street, District 1, Ho Chi Minh City.

People and police officers pick up trash in District 1, Ho Chi Minh City, morning of April 30.

The student from Ho Chi Minh City University of Economics went with a group of 20 people. They divided into two working sessions, 8:30 - 10:00 on Le Loi Street and 10:30 - 12:30 along Hai Ba Trung, Nguyen Dinh Chieu, Nguyen Thi Minh Khai Streets and the grandstand area.

After Khoa's group picked it up for 40 minutes, many people and police officers working in the area also came to help.

Half an hour later, the volunteer trash collection team had hundreds of people.

The garbage was mainly plastic bags, styrofoam boxes, and plastic cups left by people who camped overnight to watch the parade. Early in the afternoon of April 30, Khoa and four other members brought large bags of garbage to the area where the sanitation workers’ carts were.

"We just want to contribute a little to help the cleaners," Khoa said.

Ha Tien, 21 years old, filled out an application to volunteer to pick up trash during the April 30 holiday of the Green Vietnam community. They had organized the trash collection during the preliminary and final rehearsals before.

On the night of April 29, Tien’s group prepared bags for sorting trash, collected trash, and drew small banners about recycling. Initially, the group had only about 5 participants, then increased to 20 and then hundreds of people on the morning of April 30.

"What surprised me was that people joined completely by chance, after seeing others picking up trash. Awareness of keeping the streets clean seemed to spread," Tien said.

Many elderly people, children and young people in District 1 also asked for more tools to participate since the night of April 29. On the morning of April 30, Tien's group collected more than 200 bags of trash.

However, the number of people flocking to the center was still quite large, the group could not clean up all of it. Everyone decided to organize another trash pick-up on the night of April 30, after the fireworks display and the display of 10,500 drones at Bach Dang Wharf.

Ha Tien picked up trash in the Ba Son bridge area, District 1, Ho Chi Minh City, morning of April 30.

Ms. Nguyen Ngoc Anh, 29 years old, founder of the Green Vietnam community, said that in the 6 years of operation, they have regularly organized public trash collection sessions. April 30 is a big holiday, so the group called for registration in advance, divided into 3 sessions.

Ms. Anh's group has about 200 volunteers participating with security forces and police. They gathered in two areas around Ben Thanh Market (District 1) and the streets around the Youth Cultural House (District 3) in coordination with the Ho Chi Minh City Youth Union.

On the morning of April 30 alone, they collected 400 bags of trash. On April 28, after the fireworks show, 23 volunteers collected 78 bags of trash, totaling 650 kg.

"More and more people want to participate in trash picking activities even though many calls are very urgent and take place at night," Anh said.

Hong Ngoc is one of the volunteers. She joined because she witnessed the litter in the parks and sidewalks after each crowded gathering.

"Even though we haven't cleaned up all the trash, I believe the image of the group cleaning the streets will inspire people positively," Ngoc said.

HQ (according to VnExpress)

Source: https://baohaiduong.vn/hang-tram-nguoi-tinh-nguyen-nhat-rac-sau-le-dieu-binh-30-4-410597.html