Vietnam launches “Clean Up the World Campaign”

The Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment issued a press release yesterday on “Clean Up the World Campaign” to be organised in Ho Chi Minh City on September 17. 

A sanitation worker collecting the garbage, bring cleaning for the city (Photo: U. Phuong)

This year’s event themed “Our Place-Our Planet-Our Responsibility” will emphasise on how local action undertaken by every volunteer and community partaking in “Clean Up the World Campaign” can make a huge difference in our environment. 

The campaign is expected to attract around 5,000 people who will take part in a variety of activities such as visual displays on protecting the environment, seminars and promotional programmes such as not using plastic bags, waste treatment techniques and dredging of canals in the city. 

The “Clean Up the World Campaign Weekend” is held on the 3rd weekend of September each year in many nations across the globe.

Source: SGGP

Vietnam's first ‘green' buses in southern debut

The first buses in Vietnam using energy-efficient fuel made their debut on August 26 in HCM City, marking a breakthrough in the city's effort to develop environmentally friendly transport. 

Twenty-one buses, which operate on compressed natural gas (CNG), are being used on one of the busiest stretches connecting downtown in District 1 and the Binh Tay market in District 5. The green buses, commissioned by State-run Sai Gon Bus Company, were initially planned to be put on public routes on August 19. 

The new buses were purchased as part of the city's drive to reduce air pollution, according to Le Trung Tinh, head of transport management for the city's Department of Transport. Using CNG can save around 50 percent of fuel costs as compared to petrol and reduce hydrocarbon emissions by 35 percent, oxide by 62 per\cent, and carbon dioxide by 9 percent, according to an official from South Korea's Ministry of Environment, who spoke at a recent seminar held in HCM City on the development of CNG for transport vehicles. 

Operation Smile to provide more operations in Ho Chi Minh City

Vietnamese youth with cleft palates and other lip deformations can receive free operations in Ho Chi Minh City between Monday and Friday next week, the non-profit organization Operation Smile Vietnam has said in a press release. The program will be the 19th charity program by the organization in Vietnam this year, and is expected to provide operations to 80 children and adults in Vietnam’s southern region.

For safety concerns, the program will not grant cleft palate operations to children below 18 months old or 12 kilograms. Cleft lip operations will not be given to those below six months old or eight kilograms, as well as mal-nourished children and those with asthma, high fever, diabetes and cardiological conditions.