Clean Samrong Day

Waste Management is a problem in many countries and in Cambodia this is no exception. Wherever you go in OMC you find piles of waste that no one takes ownership of. The problem of a build up of rubbish in the market area was particularly obvious with piles of rubbish that had been there apparently festering for about five years. Some users approached NGO workers to see what they could do and so they came to me and we decided to help the community do something about it.

Oddar Meanchey has an Development Association/ NGO network (DA/NGO) and at one of these meetings this was discussed. A meeting was set up to further discuss the problems and what interventions were realistic in the long and short term. Two representatives from Malteser (Juli and Thee) and me formed a small committee which were to take the project further.
It was a long journey to the actual day with lots of meetings with government officials to try and engage them and meetings with other NGO’s, market stall holders, the waste management company etc. However eventually we managed to get a market committee established and a date set. Although it took a while the government eventually supported the day and even decided to expand the original idea from a clean Samrong Market – to a clean Samrong Day with other areas identified and cleaned by different stakeholders – including Monks and schoolchildren!

We also raised funds from NGOs working in the area and wrote a proposal to Greenway for the rest of the funds needed for the day. To try and ensure sustainability we also gave training to the newly formed market committee and some key stakeholders on several things including health and hygiene (Sa Vong from CHHRA was awesome) community organising and how to run a campaign day (yours truly). We also designed and arranged posters, t-shirts and bought Samrong Markets very first public bins!

The Day

The day was a real success with all the stakeholders attending the ceremony and joining in the initial cleaning of the Market. The ceremony highlighted the important work done by all of the partners and plans for the future. The ceremony also was used as an opportunity to further promote the link between hygiene and health. Speeches were made by Government and NGO representatives and were attended by stall owners, users, schools, Monks and NGO workers.

Speech by the Mr Thom Nol from the Municipal Government

Participants during the opening ceremony of the Action Day

After the opening Ceremony there was a morning of cleaning for all volunteers. Cleaning equipment and bags were provided. The rubbish bags were left at set collection points where they were collected by either the hired truck or the truck provided by the waste disposal company.

Participants sweep the Market for rubbish.

All the stakeholders were involved in the picking up of the litter and there was a real sense of community involvement, everyone from the Deputy Governor to the stall owners were involved. It was hard work but people were openly discussing that they didn’t realise how dirty the market was in places.

People load some of the more difficult rubbish on to the truck.


Market stall owners and the paid employees also returned in the afternoon to try and get rid of the more difficult piles of rubbish (see below).

One of the piles of rubbish that had “grown” around the market

The day finished at around 5.30 with the Market considerably cleaner and the new bins in place. The educational material wasn’t all in place but the remaining was put up around the market the next day.


It was so good to see everyone so motivated and the market is a lot nicer place to do your shopping now – people do use the bins but a lot of people do still drop rubbish and the service is just not there to keep it pristine. However I have seen people taking more care of their areas and even saw a women chastise someone for not using the bin – though that may be because they saw me coming! I will get back to some developments with CDA soon – I only have two months left with CDA and I am keen to get a few things finished before I leave! Write again soon!