HO CHI MINH CITY – Once a week, the rowing group of Mr. Truong Sanh Cuong, 24, spends two hours picking up trash on the Rach Chiec River, Thu Duc City.

For more than two months now, every weekend, members of the “Sup Tired” club have organized rowing and picking up trash on Rach Chiec River, Thu Duc City.

“Regularly rowing sup, I find rivers and canals in Saigon polluted, sometimes I even witness people carelessly throwing rubbish down, so I invite friends to pick up trash, gradually becoming a periodic activity,” said Truong. Sanh Cuong, club president said.

The group’s starting point was at a cafe with a swimming pool on Do Xuan Hop Street, bordering the Rach Chiec River. Here, the newbies were taught by Cuong (dark blue shirt) for more than hour on basic rowing, and safety skills when going to the river. They also get free sup rental when participating in garbage collection activities.

Around 4pm on October 14, when the water of the Rach Chiec River rose, the group wore life jackets, carried clips and trash cans. Before going to sup, they were instructed more carefully about sitting posture, how to row so as not to overturn…

Everyone must wear an ankle seat belt. Depending on the work of the members, the garbage collection team usually has from 8 to 15 people.

The members often move in the river with residential areas on both sides because of a lot of domestic waste. “Everybody is excited to be exercising while protecting the environment,” said Mr. Cuong.

For the fourth time participating in picking up trash with sup, Phan Thi Hang has not missed a session. “This time to pick up more trash, I asked my friend to row. I usually go to the shore or where there is a thick water hyacinth because there is a lot of trash,” the 22-year-old girl said.

The group often picks up waste, mainly plastic bags, plastic bottles, foam boxes… “My house is right next to this river, so I know the pollution situation. Many times I want to pick up trash but don’t know how. Two weeks ago I knew. There are groups of rowing sup should participate, both cleaning the environment and learning new sports,” said Mr. Nguyen Duc Thanh, 55 years old.

“The first time I tried to play this sport, I was quite nervous, and afraid of falling, but it only took a while to adapt. In the near future, I will let my children go to pick up trash to have a sense of environmental protection”, Ms. Mai Thi Thuy Duong, 44 years old, said.

Hung brought his children to experience the activities of rowing and picking up trash.

When the sups passed through Gia Hoa residential area, Phuoc Long B ward, some people on the shore were interested in taking pictures of this work.

After about half an hour, the plastic baskets were full of trash and had to be left to overflow. According to the team leader, the limitation of sup is that it can’t carry a lot of garbage, so when it is full, it has to go back to collect it ashore and then continue.

“The most embarrassing thing is the sealed garbage bags, inside may be animal carcasses, maggots, once the group even saw snakes in it. Since then, everyone agreed to only pick up bottles, plastic bags and plastic items because can also be recycled,” said Mr. Cuong.

At 6 p.m., after more than two hours of rowing, the members took turns collecting garbage at the wharf.

Garbage is classified by group, the non-recyclable part will be put in the bin. Approximately 20 kg of waste is collected each time on the Rach Chiec river.

“In the future, if more people participate, I will organize it more often and expand to other rivers and canals,” said Truong Sanh Cuong.

 (According to vnexpress )