'Pack out a bag of trash' underway in Tanggula town
A volunteer program called "Pack out a Bag of Trash" is underway in Tanggula Town, west China's Qinghai Province.
A pair of volunteers participate in a program called "Pack Out a Bag of Trash" on Oct. 17, 2013. [File Photo: Chinanews.cn]
The program is aimed at enhancing both residents and visitors' awareness so as to better protect the environment of the Tanggula Mountain Range, the source of China's longest river, the Yangtze River.
China News Service reports that the program was initiated by an NGO called "Green River" in 2012. Volunteers with the organization started by encouraging local residents to pick up plastic bottles and cans.
After the trash was sorted and packed, volunteers would ask a favor from tourists with their own vehicles, asking them to take the trash to other cities as they were leaving the town.
In 2015 alone, more than 37,000 bottles and cans were picked up; an area of around 20,000 square kilometers was cleaned up; with about 2,000 tourists joining the program to transport packed trash.
Yang Xin, head of Green River said on Tuesday that the program had received the endorsement of the provincial government, which will help people protect the vulnerable ecological environment at the source area of the Yangtze River.