The builder of the recycling station for garbage

Cleaning up trash or calling for environmental protection is not enough. Therefore, Mr. Nguyen Van Tien (in Ho Chi Minh City) has built “recycling stations” for trash. His concept of “digital transformation of the scrap industry” is also supported by the community. After 13 years of struggling to find an “output” for trash, he has opened a new direction for recycled trash.

Nguyen Van Tien is currently Vice President of the Vietnam Youth Union of District 5, Ho Chi Minh City. Since his days at Saigon University of Technology, he has enjoyed volunteering. After every lecture, he and his friends collect scrap metal to sell to raise funds for poor children and orphans in the area.

This process made him discover one thing, there are old items that can be reused, especially they can be recycled into useful things. He started to love the job of collecting recycled waste from that time.

Starting from an economic model combined with volunteering of the Youth Union of Ward 10 (District 5), Mr. Tien established a waste collection and recycling unit called "Uncle Hoa" in January 2024.

Currently, the unit has 13 official members and 27 collaborators who are workers working in the field of collecting recycled waste. "Whoever has paper, bring paper, whoever has plastic, bring plastic, remove all chipped and broken items to exchange for gifts!", those are the sentences that every Saturday and Sunday morning, the Uncle Hoa recycling waste collection station announces at the gift exchange locations.

Mr. Tien in the discussion "Garbage is not dirty" at Ho Chi Minh City University of Economics

For example, exchanging trash for plaster statues, exchanging for recycled socks... The "Green Living Festivals" organized have attracted thousands of young people to visit and bring thousands of kilograms of recycled trash.

Along with environmental protection activities and recycling waste collection, Mr. Tien also built a system of recycling points to receive and collect waste according to the requirements of recyclers in Ho Chi Minh City. These are recycling stations for waste.

The station is operated by environmentalists and unemployed people. Cooperating with local authorities to implement the policy of sorting waste at source, there is a subsidy policy for workers to buy traditional scrap metal themselves, the station is also a place to collect many types of packaging and low-value recyclable waste that the traditional market has not met the needs of the factory.

"The mission we are carrying out is to sort properly - recycle in the right place. Through recycling stations, we motivate people to sort their waste and reduce their carbon footprint when having to send waste too far from where they live," Mr. Tien shared.

In 2024, his unit will use technology applications to support waste collection operations, track the "path" of waste, provide reports and statistics to customers, expand the market to provinces and cities, and hope to be used more widely in the future.

Not only collecting recyclable waste and distributing it to companies specializing in recycling boxes, cans, plastic bottles, etc., Mr. Tien also accompanies people and waste source owners in properly classifying waste, achieving high efficiency, contributing to environmental protection.

Trash-for-gifts exchange activity in District 5, HCMC

"We are committed to our customers in transferring recycled waste to licensed factories. We are happy to have achieved 70% of the set target," Mr. Tien shared.

Mr. Tien's daily job is to manage members providing services of sorting - collecting - transporting recyclable waste from waste sources to factories.

In addition to professional activities, he also regularly connects with local agencies, departments, and organizations to implement programs to exchange trash for gifts; coordinates with volunteer clubs, organizations, and individuals to carry out waste collection campaigns, and uses the available funds to care for people in difficult circumstances.

On average, the unit collects approximately 5 tons of goods per day, with a variety of collected materials such as: paper, plastic, metal, bulky waste...

Mr. Tien also said that after nearly 13 years of working, the most difficult thing he encountered was the low awareness of environmental protection in the community. Many young people like to volunteer to protect the environment, but few people consider it a job, a source of livelihood for the future that they can pursue.

What he and his members are most passionate about is daring to think and act, creating a destination with its own identity. "Uncle Hoa" has contributed to fanning the "flame" of passion and entrepreneurial spirit associated with the environment and community for many people.

Next year, Mr. Tien aims to build a waste recovery station model (gradually replacing the traditional warehouse model) in Ho Chi Minh City and other provinces and cities. The expansion of this model aims to meet people's needs in protecting the environment, becoming an important part of the sustainable circular economic chain in Vietnam.

Source: https://phunuvietnam.vn/nguoi-xay-tram-tai-sinh-cho-rac-20240910161130779.htm