Continuing on from our previous blog post about Laos & Plastic in the Community, this week our team member in Cambodia, Doung, is talking about the similar situation in Siem Reap.
Plastic is everywhere. We see it a lot in Siem Reap. What can we do about it? There are some things we can do to help. By looking at our tours and removing all plastic where possible and replacing with a sustainable alternative and educating our travellers we can make a difference. Another big challenge is the community and creating awareness for them so they can know how bad plastic is for the environment.
On some streets in Siem Reap, Cambodia such as café shop, street food, some local food, small store are setting up for the evening rush. Styrofoam boxes are ripped open. The broken tops are dumped in the street. Plastic bags full of prawns are emptied into trays, then thrown out. In a few minutes, a small mountain of trash piles up on the sidewalk. As a rickshaw trundles by, its riders chuck an empty plastic drink container onto the heap. This is one of hundreds of mounds of plastic that dot this rapidly urbanizing city.
How can we fight it? In Cambodia, initiatives are emerging to fight plastic pollution, by stop using plastic straws, use a reusable produce bag, bring your own container for take-out, use a reusable bottle or mug for your beverages, most of people avoid buying frozen foods because their packaging is mostly plastic as much as they can. Some of people pack your lunch in reusable containers and bags and some make your own cleaning products that will be less toxic and eliminate the need for multiple plastic bottles of cleaner etc. So there are some way that people in Cambodia did to fighting with plastic.
In December 2019, Mango Tiger team together with Lub d Siem Reap and Pool Party Hostel joined a plastic challenge by cleaning up plastic on some street in Siem Reap call BBU round. We spend around 3 hour and a half to collecting mixing plastic on the round, those time round over twenty people in the total from Pool Party Hostel Siem Reap to Build Bright University, eOcambo Resort & Spa, Siem Reap minimart, Go Global School and along the sewage water pipes until Kravat Krong Round. This time hit the streets too lead by example and show how we can all work togeather to make a positive, cleaner and greener.
It so wonderful to see those people who can out and join the great community clean-up day. We hope that more and more people and everyone will start to understand and aware of how bad plastic is destroying the beauty of the city or the world.
Let’s continue avoid using plastic and collective efforts to create a beautiful environment, both for local community, for your country, for visitor and for the world.
Thank you so much,
Doung
