To create a green, clean, and beautiful living space sustainably, it is impossible to solely rely on infrastructure projects or massive movement-style campaigns; instead, it must begin with a change in the awareness and behavior of each individual. In Điện Biên province, this “difficult problem” is finding effective solutions right from the flexibility and creativity in building sustainable models and activities at the grassroots level.

In many mountainous rural areas, domestic waste treatment has long been a tough issue due to barriers in the awareness and habits of local people. Determining that changing community habits cannot be resolved overnight, over the past years, party committees and authorities at all levels in the province have advocated going beyond theoretical dissemination, actively promoting the core role of mass organizations to “unlock” awareness from the grassroots level.

As a prime example of this effort, in Mường Ảng commune, Women’s Union levels are effectively deploying “The Green House - Turning waste into money” model. With a network of 38 branches and more than 3,300 members, the Union has created a “revolution” in mindset. While in the past, domestic waste, especially used cans and plastic bottles, was often littered indiscriminately or burned manually, it is now collected and sold for money, creating various values. In villages and hamlets, these “Green Houses” are placed in convenient locations, becoming familiar gathering points for plastic bottles, cans, and scrap paper.

Vice President of the Mường Ảng commune Women’s Union Nguyễn Thị Thúy shared that although it has just been deployed, women in the branches have very actively responded and well maintained the collection of recyclable waste, especially in low-lying areas. After more than half a year of launching, the recycled waste has brought a fund of nearly VND 10 million to serve the implementation of meaningful humanitarian and charitable activities, such as supporting women members in difficult circumstances, visiting sick members, and awarding scholarships to poor students.

However, according to Nguyễn Thị Thúy, this movement has not yet spread strongly in highland areas. Therefore, in the coming time, the Mường Ảng commune Women’s Union will continue to step up communication activities and deploy additional “dual models” to promote the movement. Through this, the commune strives for 100% of branches across the commune to deploy and maintain the model effectively, aiming to build sustainable habits for each citizen and the community in sorting waste at the source and protecting the living environment.

To concretize this goal, the Mường Ảng Commune Women’s Union recently advised and mobilized the building of a “1+1” skilful mass mobilization model in the form of sisterhood ties and mutual assistance between branches. Accordingly, a pilot sisterhood arrangement was launched between the two Women’s Union branches of residential group 8 and Pú Khớ village. Along with supporting the construction of “The Green House - Turning waste into money”, the Women’s Union branch of residential group 8 coordinated to organize bamboo planting to prevent landslides, combined with economic development for women members in Pú Khớ village.

Head of the Women’s Union branch of Residential Group 8 Đoàn Thị Minh Thu stated that Pú Khớ is a highland village where activities related to waste and environmental protection remain very limited, so for the immediate future, they are actively sharing experiences in organizing and operating environmental protection activities and guiding the women of Pú Khớ village as well as their families to follow suit. To build a long-term foundation, the branch has deployed bamboo planting for the women in appropriate areas to protect the land, while sharing techniques for splitting bamboo and weaving household items. This is a combination of nature conservation and the promotion of traditional crafts, aiming to help the women of Pú Khớ village become more self-reliant in their lives.

Meanwhile, in Thanh Yên commune, the environmental problem is addressed through the synchronized involvement of the entire political system, with the Fatherland Front playing the core role. To build the habit of sorting waste at the source and protecting the environment for residents, the commune Fatherland Front and mass organizations recently launched a series of meaningful activities in Pa Thơm village. Besides presenting trash bins placed in convenient areas, Pa Thơm residents were also guided on how to sort recyclable and non-degradable waste, as well as techniques for composting organic waste into microbial fertilizer to serve crop care.

Vice President of the Thanh Yên commune Fatherland Front Committee Lò Thị Thanh Bình noted that they determine that the Fatherland Front serves as a bridge to step up mobilizing the people to change habits from the smallest actions. When residents see the benefits of a clean environment and guaranteed health, they will voluntarily implement it without needing reminders. The goal is to turn cleaning village roads and alleys into an intrinsic habit and a daily civilized lifestyle.

Reality proves that when public awareness is raised, environmental criteria are no longer a burden. In many communes today, residents not only respond to and participate in environmental cleaning activities and clearing ditches but also actively plant flowers and care for greenery along roads and residential areas. These “flower roads” replacing waste “black spots” are the clearest evidence of the shift in perception. Periodic weekly and monthly environmental sanitation activities have now also become community bonding festivals, where village solidarity and neighborly ties are strengthened through collective labor sessions.

According to the assessment of President of the provincial Women’s Union Pờ Diệu Ninh, women’s union levels in the province have been highly flexible in concretizing environmental protection contents to suit the specific characteristics of each locality. From models like “self-managed women’s road sections” and “field sanitation” to limiting plastic bag usage or collecting plant protection drug packaging... all have created a “green map” across the province. Especially, many members have creatively crafted household products from recycled waste, turning seemingly useless items into useful tools in the family.

With the drastic involvement of mass organizations and the consensus of the people, waste treatment models are gradually becoming cores that spread a green lifestyle. However, to maintain and improve the quality of these criteria, aiming toward advanced new-style rural areas, exemplary new-style rural areas, or civilized urban spaces, effective approaches and successful activities need to be replicated even more widely across the entire region to form a synchronized awareness from each citizen - the decisive subject of environmental quality.