On the morning of September 10, 2024, the compound of the Kandal Provincial Department of Education, Youth and Sport was buzzing with teachers, students, and local officials. Environment ministry officials and the Kandal deputy governor were both on hand for the handover of a new batch of rubbish bins.
The Ministry of Environment handed over a total of 235 bins to be distributed across 77 schools in the province. Local officials at the event explained that the bins were allocated based on the number of schools in each district and city, working out to three bins per school.
The Kandal deputy governor expressed his thanks during the event, noting that the provincial administration has been pushing hard on environmental awareness campaigns to gradually change people's daily habits. Local media reported that Kandal has rolled out plenty of cleanup drives in the past: the "Today I Don't Use Plastic Bags" initiative has organized 8,996 events with over 3 million participants, while the "Clean Cambodia" campaign has held 7,766 events drawing more than 2 million people, alongside ongoing street sweeps in public areas and along roadsides.
Ministry of Environment officials stressed at the event that proper waste management and cutting down on pollution are urgent priorities right now. Moving forward, the ministry plans to distribute similar sorting bins to schools, pagodas, and health centers nationwide to teach people how to sort their trash. With school gates routinely choked by motorbike exhaust and plastic bags from street vendors blowing down the street at dismissal time, putting bins inside schools and teaching kids how to sort their rubbish could go a long way toward cleaning up the streets.
