200 volunteers joined a clean-up event at Red River and Long Bien Bridge in Hanoi on October 12.

The two-day event was held as part of the European Union Climate Diplomacy Weeks 2019 as the EU Delegation supported Keep Hanoi Clean's effort.

Speaking at the event, the Ambassador Designate of the European Union, Giorgio Aliberti, said: “Although I’ve been in Hanoi only for a short time, I know that the Long Bien Bridge is one of the most iconic parts of Hanoi. Therefore, the EU is proud to support this initiative. The EU is engaged in a global campaign on annual beach clean-up efforts. While there is no beach in Hanoi, cleaning up our living area is a good example of action that we can take ourselves. If we want to achieve more sustainable development, we have to ensure nature will be in a position to continue providing benefits: clean air, clean water, foods and medicines through healthy soils, healthy oceans… And for this, we all need to change our behavior and be more respectful to nature. The purpose of the event is not only to cleanup but also to raise awareness".

 Ambassador Designate of the European Union, Giorgio Aliberti, joined the event

Behind the Long Bien Market there is one small community with approximately 300 to 500 people living in metal shacks without waste management services. The alley leading to their houses is too long and narrow for the environmental service companies to enter and remove the waste that is generated daily by local residents. Due to lack of access, the local people throw most of their waste into a ravine alongside the river which when flooded connects directly to the Red River. When trash is not taken away by the Red River, it’s often burned by locals.

Keep Hanoi Clean organised a cleanup event in November 2017 and achieved great results. The waste management company estimated that 14 tonnes of waste were removed from the location during our cleanup event. The area stayed clean for five months after the cleanup event, but then slowly returned back to its previous condition.

The founder of Keep Hanoi Clean, James Joseph Kendall, shared that “The first step of our plan to permanently solve this disastrous problem is to organize another cleanup event, to once again bring attention to the problem. After that, we would initiate planning a system for waste removal with the government and local residents, ensuring the system for waste removal be implemented before April, 2020. After the program is initiated, one more final cleanup event will be organized in April of next year.”

As part of the program, the area would be provided large trash cans and families would share the daily task of making sure the trash cans are taken to the street, where waste removal is possible. Due to many poor families in the area, implementing an incentive based program for a period of time to reward local families who take the responsibility to keep their neighbourhood clean would both benefit their community financially and would reduce the waste released into the Red River.

Some more photos of the event: