[ELLE Voice] For a waste-free marine environment

Lecturer Phung Hoa Mien – Hanoi University of Industrial Fine Arts – Painting project artist

Why did you decide to participate in the project and call on artists and students of Hanoi University of Industry to join hands with this project?

Everyone has a heart to love, I have devoted a part of that love to the clouds, the rivers, the animals and plants… I also know that in the vast universe, it is impossible to find a second planet with the

The threat of pollution is becoming more and more serious.

What is the message that you and the group of artists want to express through the series of paintings?

Using concise, inspiring and easy-to-understand visual language, I want to convey the message about the issue of marine pollution by garbage.

Ms. Dao Thu Ha – Managing Director of Eureka Linh Truong Resort Thanh Hoa

As someone who is attached to the Linh Truong sea area, where the first main event of the project `For a waste-free marine environment` will take place, how have you witnessed the sea change over the years?

In 2011, when I arrived here to form the Eureka Linh Truong resort, I was fortunate to be attached to this place from the first days and witness the transformation of the entire sea.

What did you hope for when you decided to participate in this meaningful project?

I feel very lucky and proud when Eureka Linh Truong resort was chosen as the location for the first main event of the project.

Photo exhibition from the United Nations Environment program with the message `Protect marine animals`.

Ms. Bui Minh Nguyet – Artist representing the project Art model installation from waste

In addition to the series of paintings painted directly on the sea embankment, the activity of picking up beach trash to use those same materials to create installation works is truly extremely impressive.

Together with artists and volunteer students from Hanoi University of Industrial Fine Arts, we created a fish model, made from dried trees, with a belly containing thousands of pieces of plastic waste in daily life.

Will you continue to accompany BTC for projects to clean up the marine environment in other provinces?

We hope that the project will not only stop at Linh Truong beach, but in the future our volunteer social activities group will also deploy in many other coastal areas to spread the message of the program.

Hanoi female businessmen next to a fish model made from waste.

• Vietnam has about 126,000 fishing boats with nearly 1 million fishermen, of which 10,000 ships operate at sea every day with about 80,000 workers, who are also responsible for generating a large amount of waste discharged into the sea.

• According to incomplete statistics, from 1989 to present, the country has had more than 100 oil spills due to maritime accidents, pouring into the sea from several dozen to hundreds of tons of oil.

• According to a UN report, every minute, the world consumes 1 million plastic bottles, while each year up to 5,000 billion single-use plastic bags are used.

• Each year, the world generates about 300 million tons of plastic waste, nearly equivalent to the weight of the entire global population.

• A nylon bag can be used in 5 minutes, takes only 5 seconds to produce and takes 1 second to throw away, but it takes 500 – 1,000 years to decompose.

• Analysts estimate that if the rate of use of plastic products continues to increase as rapidly as it is now, an additional 33 billion tons of plastic will be produced by 2050 and more than 13 billion tons of plastic waste will be landfilled.

• Every year, 1.5 million animals in the ocean die from plastic waste poisoning and threaten more than 700 marine species with extinction.

(Source: Compiled from SOS Environment, Vietnam Administration of Seas and Islands, United Nations Environment Program).