A woman carries plastic bags in Orussey commune in Phnom Penh’s Prampi Makara district. Heng Chivoan
An environmental group has launched a 20-day campaign to promote the public’s participation in reducing the use of plastic to keep the environment clean and litter-free.
Phok Sreypich, project officer of the Youth Resources Development Programme (YRDP), told The Post on May 30 that the campaign – which runs from May 17 to June 6 – aims to raise public awareness, particularly among the nation’s youth, about the principle of the 4Rs: Reduce, Reuse, Refuse and Recycle.
She said the first phase of the campaign was conducted online, with videos posted on the 4Rs through their Facebook page and focused on encouraging youth to spread the word about the reuse of old plastics.
“The third activity will be the short video competition. Those who are interested in the campaign can post their own short videos related to this topic. They can tag videos to us or send them to our Facebook page named 4Rs Campaign Cambodia,” Sreypich said.
She said the second phase of the campaign was intended to be done in person, but amid the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, a planned gathering of 200 people was no longer possible.
The offline campaign will transition online via a virtual workshop scheduled for June 6, which will be attended by officials from the Ministry of Environment, the private sector and the youths who are helping to organise this campaign.
“At the online workshop, we want to learn about the environment ministry’s management of plastics and we want to know what approach or method the private sector uses to apply the 4Rs in their businesses.
“And we want to know the youth’s views or experiences with participating in this campaign,” she said.
Community Sanitation and Recycling Organisation executive director Heng Yon Kora told The Post on May 30 that less consumption, importation and production of plastics was required.
He said that if the use of plastics was reduced, it could benefit the national economy and reduce the amount of waste being dumped, which damaged the aesthetics of the city.
“During the Covid-19 era, the use of plastics has been reduced, but not much and it is now increasing due to food packaging,” he said.
