Awards ceremony of contest "Clean river- Blue sea"

Leaders award for winners of the contest “Clean river – Blue sea” at Nam Dinh

Attending the ceremony were 200 delegates, including representatives from Vietnam National Inland Waterways Administration, Department of Natural Resources and Environment and other Departments of Nam Dinh province, Nam Dinh Provincial Youth Union and its affiliates, environmental organizations and businesses, reporters from mass media and youth union members coming from various universities and colleges in Nam Dinh, and MCD. The ceremony was dedicated to celebrating and spreading the outstanding initiatives on enhancing awareness of the public and other stakeholders in riverine and marine environment protection, thereby promoting good practices in the collection, sorting and treatment of solid waste and reducing plastic waste in the river-to-sea waterways.

The contest "Clean River - Blue Sea" was launched from November 2, 2020 and over the course of 3 weeks, 265 entries were received. Of which, 24 entries in compliance with the requirements for content, format and ability to spread was shortlisted by the Organizing Board and posted on the homepage of the contest. Since then, through jury scoring and online interaction, the 10 most outstanding entries were selected for the final round. The final round of the contest took place in the morning of December 8, 2020. The 10 teams of finalists presented and defended their initiatives to the Board of Jury and the audience.

The outstanding initiatives were awarded and honored at the awards ceremony in the afternoon of the same day. Winning individuals and groups are as follows:

01 first prize awared to Ms. Dao Thi Hong Quyen – Teacher at the Le Hong Phong High School of Nam Dinh, with the initiative of "Solution for environmental protection from bio-resin synthesis".

05 second prizes awarded to: 1) Tran Van Quyet with the "Making children's playground toys by reusing and upcycling old tires" initiative; 2) The Whale Fall group with the "Plastic Park" initiative; 3) Youth Union of the Class 10A4- Tran Hung Dao High School with the initiative of "Canoe/raft from discarded plastic material, used for flood rescue"; 4) The Blue Medical Warriors Group of Nguyen Khuyen High School with the initiative of "Nanobicelluse antibacterial materials to replace nylon"; 5) Le Thi Van Anh with the initiative of "Making plants, flowers ... and decorative products from reused plastic materials".

04 third prizes awarded to: 1) Nguyen Hien Thao with the initiative of "Making life jacket and life buoys from disposed plastic bottles"; 2) Nguyen Thi Minh Trang with the initiative of "Making map of Nam Dinh province with plastic bottle caps"; 3) Nguyen Thi Thao with the initiative of "Flower pots made from discarded water bottles"; 4) Youth Union of the Industrial Electrical and Operation Management Class - K10.1- with the initiative "Save The Earth".

In addition to the above main prizes, the Organizing Board also awarded 01 special extra prize for the Whale Fall group with the "Plastic Park" initiative for its impressiveness.

According to Ho Thi Yen Thu , Standing Deputy Director of MCD : “Marine plastic waste pollution is a severe issue whose solution requires great collective efforts. A mjority of the marine plastic waste is originated from inland and flowed into the sea through waterways. The contest "Clean River - Blue Sea" aims to promote attention, understanding and good practices in reducing solid waste and plastic waste on the flows from rivers to seas, thereby protecting the river and marine environment of Nam Dinh province and contributing to the implementation of the national action plan on marine plastic waste management. We are delighted that the contest has atracted many environment-conscious and innovative people of Nam Dinh, and has found various practical and feasible initiatives."

At the ceremony, Deputy Director of Nam Dinh city Environmental Protection Agency- Nam Dinh province Department of Natural Resources and Environment, Nguyen Thi Thu Huong shared “We highly appreciate the support provided by the MCD for Nam Dinh in the protection of river and sea environment. This contest is a practical and meaningful activity in commnucations for awareness raising and behavior change for the local community, promoting cooperation between agencies and organizations in the province for environmental protection in general and marine plastic waste reduction in particular. We will create suitable conditions so that the winning initiatives from this contest can be put into practice”.

The contest is an activity of the project “Comparative pilot waterway municipal plastic waste management practices for reducing marine plastic pollution in Coastal World Biosphere Reserve of Nam Dinh, Vietnam” funded by USAID through the Municipal Waste Recycling Program” (MWRP) managed by DIG, with support from the project “Strategic plastic litter abatement in the Song Hong” funded by Ocean Conservancy (OC). These projects are coordinated by MCD and implemented in Nam Dinh in coordination with several central and local partners.