Pollution and waste

Stung Treng provincial authorities on Friday shut down an illegal sand dredging operation on the Sesan River and confiscated equipment after having warned the company to cease operations since December, officials said yesterday. ...

Interior Minister Sar Kheng bemoaned Phnom Penh’s sewage infrastructure and criticised the Ministry of Environment for allowing untreated waste water to flow into the Mekong and Bassac rivers in unscripted remarks on Monday. ...

The owner of a garbage collection company that recently took over trash pick-up in Sihanoukville admitted shortcomings in collection efforts yesterday, while pledging to improve services, following a petition by residents calling for the company’s contract to be rescinded. ...

Cambodia’s solid waste collection has increased more than 40 percent over the last five years, according to an official and the Ministry of Environment’s annual report released on Monday. ...

Sihanoukville residents are benefiting from cheaper rubbish collections after Preah Sihanouk province changed the price of waste disposal services amid complaints it was too expensive. ...

Even as floodwaters pour into their villages and encroach upon their resettlement sites, villagers displaced by the controversial Lower Sesan II Dam in Stung Treng province say they are now facing shortages of potable water. ...

The Ministry of Environment has fined a Chinese garment factory in Takeo province $7,500 after villagers complained the factory was polluting nearby streams with untreated waste. ...

Chamkamorn district authorities have been collecting garbage out of the Boeung Trabek canal this week, hauling nearly 200 truckloads of trash over two days and appealing to residents to stop discarding rubbish in the waterway. ...

Move over, Cintri – there’s a new garbage collector in town. For the first time in a dozen years, Sihanoukville has a new waste management company, and it has already started collecting trash ahead of the Pchum Ben holiday. ...

Responsibility for cleaning garbage from neighborhoods will be put in the hands of district officials under new guidelines released on Tuesday as part of the government’s plan to decentralize waste disposal. ...

Siem Reap is littered with trash and local young people have had enough. Once a month since March, monks and youth volunteers from NGOs, businesses and public schools have joined together to clean up their neighbourhood and promote awareness of how rubbish affects people’s lives. ...

The first readings of the capital’s PM2.5 concentration, a major indicator of air quality, show that levels of the harmful particulates are “still low”, said Thiv Sophearith, chief of the Ministry of Environment’s Air Quality, Noise and Vibration Office, though an environmental specialist yesterday challenged ...

Phnom Penh’s sole garbage hauler says it will need another week to collect thousands of tons of fetid garbage that piled up over the weekend when workers left the capital to vote in Sunday’s commune elections. ...

The government is looking at ways to tackle Cambodia’s waste problem with a $1 charge on airline tickets touted to raise the cash. The move comes after footage emerged showing the capital’s canals remain clogged with rubbish a year after video of the pollution was shown ...

In a tributary in Phnom Penh’s Phum Prek Toal district that flows into Boeng Tompun, a mountain of plastic, garbage and waste has built up to the point where it stifles the water from flowing. Embattled residents who live next to the pile of waste ...

Experts from the Institute of Standards of Cambodia (ISC) inspected Chinese-owned Rui Feng sugar company’s factory this week after suspicions that its runoff had caused last month’s mass fish deaths in Preah Vihear. ...

The Environment Ministry is studying water samples from Preah Vihear province to find out what has been killing thousands of fish in the Stung Sen River, where villagers are reportedly blaming a sugarcane plantation. ...

Phnom Penh deputy governor Ieng Aunny yesterday acknowledged that the capital continues to struggle with waste management despite recent decentralisation measures, laying the blame with districts’ and communes’ lack of awareness of their new responsibilities, as well as what he characterised as contractor CINTRI’s ongoing ...

Kampong Chhnang provincial authorities have outlined plans to relocate thousands of families living on the Tonle Sap river in an effort to curb water pollution.   ...

In celebration of World Water Day on Wednesday, the US embassy held the Cambodian premiere of the US documentary “A Plastic Ocean” – an award-winning documentary on the impact of plastic waste around the world – at Aeon Mall’s Major Cineplex.   ...

Japan has signed a three-year deal to help train government officials on attracting environmentally friendly investment. The Environment Ministry and Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) yesterday signed the agreement to educate officials about how to use environmental impact assessments and enforce pollution controls. ...

Locals in Siem Reap province’s Kralanh district and Banteay Meanchey’s Preah Netr Preah district yesterday alleged that a sand-dredging company is polluting a river that straddles the two districts and stoking fears of bank collapse. ...

Cambodia could reduce its projected carbon emissions by 57 percent over the next 30 years without taking a financial hit if it implements low-carbon development policies in five key sectors, according to a new report in the journal Energy Policy. ...

To safely dispose of hazardous medical waste, Japan-based Tesna Energy has proposed plans to build a factory in the Kingdom producing incineration machinery. ...