Cleaning up Kratie
CRDT installs services and fosters behavior change to reduce and recycle plastic waste.
Waste in Kratie
The city of Kratie, nestled along the Mekong River in Cambodia, is renowned for its freshwater Irrawaddy dolphins and community-based tourism. However, the city faces a significant threat to its tourism potential and economic growth due to prevalent plastic waste and poor waste management practices. The abundance of single-use plastics and inadequate coping resources pose substantial challenges.
Moreover, some Kratie residents have limited knowledge of proper solid waste management, such as waste segregation, and the principles of Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle (3Rs). Therefore, informing about effective waste management methods and implementing Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle in daily life are crucial.
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Waste collection service on Koh Trong
Partnerships for action
CRDT worked with key stakeholders in waste management including the German Agency for International Cooperation (GIZ), the Asia Foundation, Composted, Kratie Municipality Administration, Phare Creative Studio, the waste collection private sector, community based organizations, schoolteachers and students. The project was part of a broader regional effort supported by GIZ - the Reduce, Reuse, Recycle to Protect Marine Environment and Coral Reefs (3RproMar) initiative.
Kratie has 38 thousand residents, and each household generates about 2.6 kg of waste every day. Together with businesses, this is 39 tonnes a day. Plastic waste, mostly single-use plastic bags and water bottles represent 68% of the waste. A private company collects waste and deposits it in a landfill. About 35% of families live outside the collection area and burn their waste. The community on Koh Trung Island has no road connection to the mainland, and all villagers resort to burning waste, releasing dangerous toxins into the environment.
Fostering behavior change
The slogan “No more waste, it starts with you” highlights the responsibility and capacity of individuals to make a difference in reducing waste, particularly single-use plastic. The Behavior Change Campaign (BCC) aimed to raise awareness, foster behavior change, and encourage sustainable waste management practices among the community. We developed a portfolio of communication tools and channels to deliver the message, including a logo, billboards, videos, mobile audio messages, static posts, online platforms, and a comic book (The River Monster) for children. A clean-up campaign mobilized residents to attack street and riverbank litter.
Kratie Municipality posted three images and four videos on their Facebook page. During the follow-up monitoring, these posts reached 7,177 people, 246 reacted, and 227 shared. The most popular content was a video clip directed by high school students to encourage reusing plastic water bottles, with 6,400 views.
Koh Trung community waste collection
Koh Trung island in the river Mekong has 370 households, but no waste collection service.
CRDT introduced a door-to-door waste collection service, four recycling banks, and 48 home compost units. Waste collections started after three weeks of information dissemination by mobile audio, and opportunities for feedback.
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Recycling and composting center on Koh Trung island.
The waste operations are working extremely well, with 70% uptake, and most households presenting their waste correctly. Many householders segregate their waste ready for collection, and use the recycling banks. The waste collection crew is professional and well-organized: a time and motion study shows much higher efficiency on Koh Trung than on the mainland. The waste truck transports the waste on the ferry, and the city waste contractor takes it to the landfill site.
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​Local authorities manage the service. They collect fees from households and sell recyclables to fund the service. Poor families have a 50% subsidy. The service continues to operate despite a budget deficit during its initial stages. Not all households have yet joined the scheme, and income from recyclables is low because households often sell to private recyclers rather than use the community recycling banks. We continue to work to increase participation and increase income from recyclables, so the service is self-sustaining.
Long-term impact
Minister of Environment Eang Sophalleth, along with the ministry’s development partners (DPs), visited the project. “The project makes Koh Trung more beautiful and attracts national and international tourists to visit and enjoy the island,” commune chief Sam Buoy told the minister and other partners during their visit.
The Ministry of Environment has adopted the Koh Trung example as a national model for its Zero Waste Communities program.
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H.E. Eang Sophelleth, Minister of Environment, visits Koh Trung waste management project
