PHNOM PENH: The Minister of Tourism, Thong Khon, stated on Monday that Cambodia will begin using a state of the art garbage collection boat equipped with new German technology to clean up the Mekong, Tonle Sap and Tonle Bassac. This boat has the capacity to collect 20 tons of garbage per day.
Minister Thong Khon held a meeting with the Chairman and Co-Founder of everwave GmbH, Clemens Nepomuk Feigl, and the Executive Director of River Ocean Cleanup, Nou Sovann, to discuss work regarding the Cleanup Campaigns on the Mekong, Tonle Sap and Tonle Bassac.
The Mekong clean-up campaign will utilize new Germany technology, the garbage collection boat named “Moringa by Landmarken", which has the ability to quickly collect location data on landfills via drones and the capacity to collect about 20 tons of garbage in the water per day.
The Co-Founder of everwave stated that the campaign will use CollectiX boats to pick up trash from the water and riverbank from March to June 2022. The collected waste will then be distributed at the landfill in Phnom Penh, jointly-organized by everwave and River Ocean Cleanup, and the non-recyclable waste will be sent to Chip Mong Ecocycle to be converted into energy in the cement factory.
He added that the campaign’s main activities include cleaning the river, using the CollectiX garbage boat to collect plastic and other floating debris from the river, and cleaning up about 200 meters of the river bank to prevent garbage from falling into the river.
The campaign also includes recycling collected garbage by Chip Mong Ecocycle and educating students and people living along the river about infrastructure development and the enforcement of waste laws in Cambodia.
Minister Thong Khon extended a warm welcome to everwave and the River Ocean Cleanup, and expressed his appreciation to them for organizing this river clean-up campaign, one of the first river cleaning missions of its kind in Cambodia, contributing greatly to the protection of Cambodian waters as well as the recently launched nationwide Clean City Campaign.
The Minister also called on the working group to continue its long-term mission of cleaning up the rivers in Cambodia, not only in the Phnom Penh area, but to continue this work also in the provinces, especially where tourism is concentrated like in Chong Khneas, Siem Reap and other riverside provinces. He said that promoting clean and green practices along the rivers and seas will help to attract even more national and international tourists to take on boat or travel activities on the rivers and seas.
