The latest fashionable challenge on social media is useful. For a few weeks, the #TrashTagChallenge has been circulating on Facebook, Twittter or Instagram. The principle: take a picture of a dirty or polluted site, clean it and take a picture. Coming from Algeria, France, Ivory Coast or Mexico these photos have multiplied on the web everywhere around the world. In Cambodia, this challenge mobilized dozens of young people. Especially in Phnom Penh.
In the Cambodian capital, what began as a one-off challenge continues as a marathon. For two weeks, young people are mobilized on a canal in the city to pick up garbage. Around 40 people take turns in small groups around the Boeung Trabek canal. A channel with black, opaque waters covered with garbage. Between them, the locals call him "the nauseating canal", a nickname given because of the stench of smell that emanates from it, continually.
A challenge that encourages commitment
It is on Facebook that Cambodians organized themselves around the #TrashTagChallenge. As Rathey, a 24-year-old graduate with a mask on her face, gloves on her hands, "I saw a publication on Facebook, I found it really interesting so I came. I want a clean city. We want more people to pick up the garbage, than people who throw it here. " Other young people board rafts several times a day to collect waste in sticky water. And their action has been noticed all over the country because it comes from the #TrashTagChallenge which now enjoys a certain visibility.
Other Cambodians participated, whether in Phnom Penh or in the provinces. As most people involved in this action are young and connected to social networks, this gives publications by tens, especially on Facebook. But at Boeung Trabek, it goes a little beyond the concept of "before-after" photography because every day waste continues to accumulate. As a result, humorous montages circulate on the internet in recent days. For example, the picture of a couple sitting on the edge of the canal covered with rubbish. The legend says with humor: "I promise to marry you when it's clean". A promise that seems far away. Many posts play the same way on the perpetual return of garbage.
Household pollution, a serious problem
Humorous publications show the limits of garbage collection. The problem, as elsewhere, is the production, collection and treatment of garbage. Especially when the infrastructures are insufficient. In total, 3,000 tons of waste are produced daily in Phnom Penh, for about 2 million people. And among them, a lot of plastic including a lot of food packaging for single use. Ten million plastic bags would be used every day in Phnom Penh.
The Boeung Trabek canal is actually very often in the news of the city. The cleaning by the authorities is more and more regular. But waves of waste form several times a day. The volunteers on the channel do not know how long this citizen cleaning will last. What they want above all is to highlight the problem of this black channel. Show that everyone is responsible. They are looking to organize a concert near the canal in the coming days to raise awareness of the surrounding area.
By Juliette Buchez on RFI