Since 2015, Tran Yen district has mobilised resources to build more than 1,000 garbage containers, and called on local residents to gather rural waste at the sites.

Nguyen Minh Tuyen, a farmer of Viet Thanh commune, said that his family has raised fish for years but eventually they died due to diseases. When local officials examined the incident, they found out that bottles of herbicides that locals littered at irrigation canals caused water pollution, thereby bringing harm to their own livelihood.  

Now local farmers both gather rural waste at proper places and clean up the fields after harvest.

Last year, Tran Yen district allocated a budget to buy service from Phu Ha waste management company in the neighbouring province of Phu Tho, and called on local people to sort out and gather waste at an assigned location.

The farmer’s association in Nghia Lo town also carried out a campaign on cleaning up the fields and called for the building of garbage bins. To date, all of its communes and wards have joined the event, with hundreds of containers being built. 

President of the association Ha Duc Thuy said it earmarked part of its fund and urged local authorities to support the building of waste containers, so farmers only need to contribute 40 percent of the total cost.

Furthermore, all units of the association have called on people to gather rural waste at designated locations.

Most of the localities have placed waste bins close to farming areas while some of them worked together with relevant agencies to transfer and handle trash properly.

Collection and handling of packages and bottles of chemicals and herbicides have become part of criteria to assess the implementation of building rural areas in localities.