Rubbish collection and the understanding and thinking around waste management is a long term HUSK goal. Currently in Siem Reap only a small percentage of the population have access to a regular rubbish collection, a service which families must pay for. Plastic bags are relatively new to Cambodia yet in the few years since they gained prevalence they have reeked havoc with the environment. Plastic bags replaced biodegradable lotus and banana leaf which when thrown away simply broke down naturally. Unfortunately the same cannot be said for plastic bags and the evidence litters most streets and drains. Burning rubbish is also common practice and this releases harmful chemicals into the air.
In late 2009 we commenced our Treak Village community rubbish collection. This program was kicked off with a “Rice for Rubbish Day”. A single day event where all villages could participate in the pick up of non biodegradable rubbish.
Over 130 families registered and 1500 bags of rubbish were collected. For each rice sack of rubbish collected families received 2 kilos of rice.
This massive amount of waste was removed at no charge by GAEA the waste management company in Siem Reap who also provided support for the program by donating the initial 15 bins.
Following on from Rice for Rubbish our ongoing rubbish collection program commenced its roll out. The initial release of 15 waste bins were distributed in three central collection locations. Following this initial release and additional 10 bins will be located in 7 pick up locations along the truck route and a further 20 bins will be issued to families who will be responsible for carrying their bin to the pick up location three times per week.
Our ongoing Rubbish Collection program will work in a number of areas over the next few years.
We recognize that the challenges for this program are immense – understanding that families are worried about where the next meal will come from and the concept of understanding rubbish collection pales in comparison to such fundamental issues of basic survival. However, we recognize the significant need for this program and so have undertaken the long term commitment and goal to make this a success for the village.
- Education and environmental awareness
- Developing a culture of using rubbish bins
- Implementation of rubbish collection programs that can be accessed by all villagers
- Implementing composting
Update July 2010
We are very pleased to advise we now have over 50 bins located within the Treak Village Area. The program still has a long way to go, this is something that we recognise and know that we can't change this overnight. The general understanding of 'not dropping rubbish', 'the environment', and "rubbish issues" is extremely low / non existent across Cambodia, so we are at the beginning of a very long journey. With all of that said each time we walk through the village we see that it is cleaner than before. We can see which families are trying really hard and which families are currently not participating in the program.
If an opportunity presents itself on a Treak Village walking tour our guides will help provide villagers with some soft training.
In March 2010 the Treak Village committee decided to recognise and reward one family each month that are participating in the rubbish program and doing their best to keep their household area clean as well as their patch of road. The winning family must also not be burning plastic rubbish. The winners receive a 50 kilogram sack of rice. This is funded through our walk and talk program or general donations. Here are some of our happy winners to date.
