The Trashtag Challenge makes its mark in Cambodia

After the Ice Bucket Challenge (pouring a bucket of ice water over your head) and the Bird Box Challenge, inspired by the Netflix movie (blindfolding yourself during everyday tasks), another social media challenge deserves particular attention: the #Trashtag Challenge (a combination of “hashtag” and “trash”). This challenge has appeared in Facebook posts across Cambodia.

Environmental issues are a major topic in today’s society, and waste collection is part of this. In Cambodia, waste collection is still too inconsistent. According to lepetitjournal Cambodia, 36% of the poor communities in Phnom Penh, for example, do not have access to waste collection services. Garbage trucks do not come to their neighborhoods, causing piles of waste to accumulate in some streets of the capital.

The first domino falls

Cambodians, a people deeply connected on social media, have recently seen a glimmer of hope on Facebook. Mainly young people have taken part in the #Trashtag Challenge, a challenge where participants take a photo of themselves in an area littered with trash, clean it up entirely, and then take another photo of the spot, now clean and filled with trash bags.

In Cambodia, activists have begun by focusing on the Boeung Trabek Canal in Phnom Penh. Ironically, the canal, which is extremely foul-smelling, renews its trash pile every day. It’s as though the arm of this canal could never be joined to the divine hand of purity.

After the first wave of garbage was cleared from the Boeung Trabek Canal, several posts on social media appeared, showing the efforts made. This movement could spread, encouraging each citizen to take action, no matter how small, photograph it, and share it repeatedly on their own Facebook profiles. These citizens, or even political influencers, who knows ?

Thibault Bourru