Cleaning up roadside rubbish in Cambodia

In January 2025, Cambodia launched the ‘National Roads Without Plastic Waste’ campaign. The goal is for Cambodia’s national roads to be free of plastic waste by the end of 2025. It’s a lofty goal, but I salute their ambition.

One of the frustrating aspects of travelling in Cambodia is the amount of rubbish on the side of the road, so this is a welcome development. I was in Cambodia in December 2024, and seeing plastic waste everywhere was an eyesore.

This article is not meant to focus specifically on Cambodia, as it could be applied to other Southeast Asian countries. Indeed, it wasn’t that long ago when my homeland of Australia was in a similar situation.

The plastic waste campaign got me thinking about how other countries have managed the roadside rubbish problem, so I present these examples.

Australia did the right thing

I grew up in rural Australia in the 70s and 80s, and I recall the sides of the roads being strewn with rubbish. I remember a time when people would throw rubbish out the car window (not my parents, thankfully) and smokers would think nothing of butting out cigarettes on the beach sand. If you did that now, you would have the rubbish thrown back at you or be yelled at on the beach.

It was in the late 70s and early 80s when the Australian government launched the Do The Right Thing campaign. Advertisements with a catchy jingle (which has been seared onto my memory) were on TV all the time, and eventually, it became the normal thing to not litter. The advertisements are considered as the most effective behavioural change campaign in Australian history.

I was reminded of this campaign when I was in Kampot during my most recent trip. I rode by a freshly rehabilitated canal, so I stopped to have a look. Next to the canal is a sign that clearly illustrates that dumping rubbish is not allowed.

The sign is sponsored by the Asia Development Bank, which has been helping with canal rehabilitation in the region. Signs like this should be everywhere, so hopefully, local governments will copy the lead that the ADB have taken.

Singapore is a fine city

Singapore is famous for its fines, and it was in 1992 when Singapore introduced fines against littering on public streets. Singapore also introduced the Corrective Work Order, which humiliated repeat offenders by making them clean up in public while wearing hi-vis vests.

I’m not saying this is the right approach, but if cities in Southeast Asia keep saying they want to be The Next Singapore, then they have to start by cleaning up the streets before dreaming about becoming the next financial hub of the region.

Vietnam has the answer (they just don’t know it yet)

Vietnam has its own roadside rubbish demons to slay, so seeing Vietnam on this list might seem out of place. Anyone who has taken a road trip in Vietnam might be scratching their head wondering what Vietnam has to teach about keeping roadsides clean. What Vietnam can teach is how the threat of fines can bring almost immediate results.

Vietnam is famous for its insane motorbike traffic. In Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, motorbikes use the sidewalks as spare traffic lanes during peak hour.

January 1 saw the enactment of Decree 168, which introduced harsh penalties for road traffic violations. Practically overnight, the practice of riding motorbikes on sidewalks was reduced to a trickle.

There are many major roads in Saigon that I completely avoid during peak hours due to the motorbikes. I was surprised to walk down these roads after the fines to find that the sidewalks had been mostly reclaimed for walkers.

This almost immediate following of the rules was so notable that it was a feature story in the New York Times.

One of the amazing things about this was that everyone was talking about the new laws before they came into effect. It might have been previously assumed that this behavioural change would take years, but information spreads so fast now that change can happen quickly.

After the success (so far) of enforcing these laws, people are now wondering why this isn’t applied to other social problems such as loud karaoke and littering. An easy win would be to monitor the canals that are continually filled up with household trash.

A future of rubbish-free roads in Cambodia

Keeping the roads free of plastic waste will first require teams of volunteers to clean up the tonnes of trash already on the roads. It will then require a nationwide education campaign alongside enforced fines for litterers.