A large number of students in Da Nang celebrated Earth Day, April 22, by collecting beachside garbage and exchanging it for handmade recycled plastic and organic products.

The event, jointly held by Vietnam’s Center for Environment and Community Research and the municipal administration, attracted thousands of people, including students, local residents and tourists.

Students by the hundreds flocked to the beach and the road leading to Da Nang’s Son Tra Peninsula, braving the scorching heat in order to clean the spots.

The picked-up trash was then separated into organic and inorganic types before being swapped for plastic items or small plants at bazaar stands run by students along the locations.

These products ranged from plant pots, pen cases, and flower vases to dishwashing liquid and bio-detergent.

Fetching a mere VND10,000-50,000 (US$0.5-$2), the cleaning products, both made from organic waste, held a fascination for many visitors.

All the proceeds from the activity will go to charity.

Students classify garbage at a beach in Da Nang, central Vietnam, on April 22, 2018. Photo: Tuoi Tre

Students weigh a bag of garbage at a beach in Da Nang, central Vietnam, on April 22, 2018. Photo: Tuoi Tre

Students put garbage in a bag at a beach in Da Nang, central Vietnam, on April 22, 2018. Photo: Tuoi Tre

Huynh Tran Bao Minh, a student managing a stall at the event, said that the products on display were designed by scores of members in her group.

The 16-year-old added that they had asked for rubbish from restaurants and collected empty cans, ice cream sticks and newspapers, out of which useful items were created.

The Earth Day effort received praise from visitors.

“I really love activities as meaningful as this one,” Van Anh Dao, a 32-year-old mother, said.

“I wish to use this as a chance to make my child behave environment-consciously by doing the smallest deeds.”

She said she was strongly impressed and surprised to see that plastic waste, which usually ends up at dumps, could be transformed into practical everyday items.

Visitors browse items sold at the Earth Day event in Da Nang, central Vietnam, on April 22, 2018. Photo: Tuoi Tre

A poster is seen at the Earth Day event in Da Nang, central Vietnam, on April 22, 2018. Photo: Tuoi Tre

A student handles a bottle configuration of a sperm whale which died with the body filled with trash in Spain in February, at the Earth Day event in Da Nang, central Vietnam, on April 22, 2018. Photo: Tuoi Tre

Many students also created educational games aimed at raising the awareness of minimizing plastic waste pollution, and exhibited pictures encouraging environmental protection.

This is the seventh consecutive Earth Day event to have been held by the Center for Environment and Community Research, and the first time in Da Nang.

With the end-plastic-pollution message, Earth Day 2018 reminded people of how detrimental plastic trash can be to marine life, land and human health, using this as the step toward shifting general attitude and behavior about the material.

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