Hanoi (VNS/VNA) - Reserving a 2,600sq.m garden in Dong Na village in CamHa commune – a farming intensive suburban area of Hoi An – local farmers andbusinesses have joined hands to debut the first zero-waste agriculture andtourism zone in promoting ‘green’ tourism product in the tourism hub.

It’s also the first ever joint-venture among farmers and travel agency projectthat would help builds up a zero-waste community and non-plastic tourism chainsin rural areas of Hoi An.

The KyBiMo zero-waste garden, which was built from 2018, was survived throughthe COVID-19 pandemic as it supplied enough healthy organic farm produce for achain of restaurant and resorts during a two-month social distancing order fromthe Government of Vietnam.

The garden also built itself a source of organic waste from vendor juicepavilions in Hoi An and kitchen waste to fertilise for dozens of vegetable,roots and herbs, saving much from greengrocer’s and reducing organic waste eachday.

“It’s a key sample for expanding a chain of organic farms – an agro-tourismexperience and zero waste zone to tourist attraction in Hoi An. The gardenwould build up a sustainable and recycle ecology system in the tourism hub,boosting ‘green’ tourism industry and environment protection among tourists andcommunity,” said Pham Vu Dung, the garden owner.

“We intentionally involved the participation of local farmers as a key factorin the development of organic and zero waste agro-tourism product – a new versionin the sustainable tourism development in Hoi An,” he said.

Dung said travel agencies and businesses previously were main investors andoperators of almost farming tours in the city, while local farmers only joinedthe project as employees.

“They (local farmers) must care the product with their experience andresponsibility. They actually joined venture with us in reducing risk inoperating agro-tourism project,” he added.

“Farmers, who leased their farms in the project, will play both roles of farmersand guides in hosting visitors. It means that they do care about the productwith heart and responsibility.”

Following statistics, the organic production chain of KyBiMo zero-waste garden,which includes a resort, restaurant and a hotel, released 2 tonnes of waste permonth, of which 71 percent were leftover food and decomposable waste forcompost.

An amount of 160kg of waste were processed by dew worms in creating lucrativesoil for garden.

Meanwhile, two street juice pavilions also supplied 30kg of fruit peels for thegarden each day in processing into organic fertiliser.

The garden also processed bio-pest from herbs and spicy vegetable includinggarlic, chili, ginger and citronella, Dung said.

Nguyen Cu, a local farmer, who leased the garden, said he actually joined theoperation of the agro-tourism garden project with farming skills andexperience.

“Previously, I only rent my garden to travel agencies and tour operators. Theyinvested and operated themselves, but we only offered labour rate from farming.Now we do our job as active member of the project from gardening to kitchenworks as well as tour guide,” Cu said.

Zero waste community

The free-chemical fertiliser and zero waste agro-tourism garden project wouldbe built on farming zones of Cam Kim, An My, Triem Tay villages along withfavourite Tra Que garden village in emerging as new agro-tourism product afterthe Old Quarter of Hoi An.

Last year, the owners of 44 hotels, homestays, villas and restaurants as wellas travel agencies in the central province of Quang Nam agreed to take actionto reduce the plastic waste and building the 'Zero plastic waste tourism'brand.

Vu Thi My Hanh, manager of the An Nhien Farm, said organic kitchen waste was recycledinto materials to create chemical-free dish-washing liquid at some restaurantsin Hoi An.

She said at least 300 litres of used-cooking oil was used to producechemical-free kitchen soap, while 300kg of single-use soap was also recycledfor usable soaps for poor people.

Meanwhile, refillable Hoi An, the first refillable concept store in Hoi An,helped local residents re-use 2,600 containers by refilling empty plasticbottles of washing liquid with environmentally-friendly detergent or washingliquid, Hanh added.

Some companies in Hoi An have been producing straws, containers and souvenirsfrom bamboo and reed, while citizens have been encouraged to bring reusablebags to markets instead of taking plastic bags from sellers.

In an effort of building the first zero-waste communities in Hoi An, azero-waste model project has been launched in of Thanh Dong village in Cam Thanhcommune in Hoi An city and Tan Hiep commune on Cham Islands.

The building and sharing zero waste model in selected Asian communitiesproject, which running through March of 2021 with total funding of more than 90,000USD from USAID’s municipal waste recycling programme via the Global Alliancefor Incinerator Alternatives (GAIA), will help residents in the two communitiesreduce the waste they release daily from 75 to 80 percent.

Vietnam, Indonesia, Sri Lanka and the Philippines are the beneficiaries of theUSAID project.

The project also aims to promote waste classification and recycling, andplastic waste reduction and composting among the community.

Quach Thi Xuan, a member of Zero-waste Alliance of Vietnam, said GAIA, aworldwide alliance of more than 800 groups, NGOs and individuals in 90countries, advances community-driven waste solutions through systems change andpolicy advocacy.

The alliance focuses on promoting zero waste, reducing problematic wastestreams like plastic, and putting an end to the burning of waste, she said.

“The programme also aims to boost waste classification at source and recyclingas well as composting before disposal to a dump. It also creates a monitoringsolution for plastic waste and database for prolonged solid waste management,” Xuanadded.

Hoi An City produces 100 tonnes of garbage each day, of which 30 percent isrecycled or classified, while a local incinerator can only process 50 tonneseach day.

Cham islands population of 2,200 release from 3 to 3.5 tonnes of waste eachday, with most of it burnt or sent to a landfill.

The islands, 20km off the coast of Hoi An, are seen as the first site in Vietnampromoting the successful reduction of plastic bags and 3-Rs (reduce, reuse andrecycle) since 2011.

The islands, a world biosphere reserve site, ban all use of plastic bags amonglocal residents and tourists, and a ‘say no to single-use plastic straws andcups’ campaign was launched early this year./.