Story of “Rooftop Composting: Reducing Waste, Growing Healthy Food, Enhancing Well-being”.
(“Rooftop Composting: Reducing Waste, Growing Healthy Food, Enhancing Well-Being” is a small initiative conducted at the building of Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, funded by the Embassy of Denmark. The story is taken from the conversation with Mrs. Lan Anh – a staff from the kitchen of the building who is also a member of the small initiative and carries out daily care for the garden).
As an employee at the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development’s canteen, I am well aware of the fact that the amount of leftover food every day is relatively large. With that amount of food, it is a waste of resource and money if I just discard and treat them like other wastes. However, if I don’t do that, I wouldn’t know how to deal with such amount of food waste. Luckily, the Center for Environment and Community Assets Development had invited me to participate in a small initiative sponsored by the Embassy of Denmark, which is a great idea to help us solve the problem of leftover food. Ever since I participated in the initiative “Rooftop Composting: Reducing Waste, Growing Healthy Food, Enhancing Well-Being”, I’ve enjoyed my working space more because it helped me deal with the excessive amount of food while creating a green space for the rooftop of the building. Other staffs of the building are also very excited with our model of planting flowers and vegetables. Even my niece is very interested in this initiative, and she would come here every day to help me watering the plant. Therefore, introducing about this small initiative to others makes me feel proud. Also, I have gained more experience and knowledge on organic composting as well as growing clean vegetables since participating in this initiative. You know, watching them growing up and harvesting them with my own hands has given me pleasure and joy.
I would like to express my sincere gratitude to CECAD and the Danish Embassy for giving us a small but practical initiative. I hope that the initiative can be expanded, so that not only the staff at the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development can enjoy the clean, green space, but also all the citizens in our city can as well. In particular, this initiative can be developed in schools, providing access to composting or greening methods for students. As such, everyone is aware of minimizing, sorting waste and growing plants right in their working space.
