For the past 7 years, every early weekend morning, Ms. Vu Thi Hong Thoan (born in 1973, Gieng Day 5 area, Viet Hung ward, Quang Ninh province) has volunteered to bring brooms and gloves to Bai Chay beach to clean up trash.
Her work is called by many people by the familiar name "garbage disposal leader".
Ms. Thoan's beach garbage cleaning journey began in 2019, when she noticed that many ocean waste appeared on her hometown beach.
During the garbage collection process, through social networking platforms, she regularly posts images and articles about the current situation of waste at the beach, calling on the community to join hands in protecting the environment.
From those simple calls, many people have learned about and volunteered to participate. By March 2024, the "Warrior of Garbage" group was officially established.
To date, the group has 30 members of different ages and occupations.
Periodically, members of the group clean up on a weekend day, starting from 5 am in summer and 5:30 am in winter.
At times when there is a lot of garbage on the beach, the group will launch more cleaning sessions.
Members agreed on a common principle: not waiting for enough to start, but whoever comes first will voluntarily clean up the trash first.
The meaningful actions of the "Warrior of Garbage" group have created a spreading effect, attracting more and more people and tourists to participate.
Ms. Vu Thanh Xuan (62 years old, 9B area, Bai Chay ward) shared: "After reading Ms. Thoan's articles calling for environmental protection, I invited 2 high school friends to participate together, we have been doing this job for 2 years now. Everyone is happy and excited because we have made the beach cleaner.
During the operation, the group also encountered many difficulties, especially after Typhoon Yagi in 2024, when a large amount of garbage, trees and cages drifted from the sea to the beach. At that time, members had to mobilize more relatives, people and tourists to participate in cleaning.
Ms. Thoan said that the most desired thing is for every citizen and tourist when coming to Ha Long to be more aware of environmental protection. Wishing the members to persevere with this work.
Ha Long Bay is a world natural heritage, the pride of Quang Ninh people. I want to spread the spirit of sustainable environmental protection to more people. Just putting garbage in the right place and on time has contributed to keeping the beach always clean and beautiful," Ms. Thoan shared.
Not only cleaning up garbage, Ms. Thoan and members of the group also participate in many charity activities such as cooking porridge to distribute free to patients and family members of patients in difficult circumstances at Bai Chay Hospital, voluntary blood donation and registering for tissue and organ donation to save people.
From simple daily actions, Ms. Thoan and the "Warrior of Garbage" group are spreading a message about green living, contributing to building a civilized and responsible community for the environment.
