They've kind of given up on the fake "Go Green" stuff in tourist areas in Da Nang

Vietnam has a well-deserved reputation for being one of the most environmentally irresponsible countries in the world. Despite having just a fraction of the USA population they manage to pollute far more than them or almost any other country in the world.

So when these recycling boxes started popping up all over the tourist parts of town as well as signs that were basically lecturing visitors on how "we are all in this together" and to be environmentally conscious during your visit, I was kind of offended as well as amused. That's like a serial cheating playboy giving marital advice.

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There were bins like this complete with instructions on how to use them and how important it is for the future of the world written on top in broken English only and one time I happened to be at one of these things during trash collection time and they didn't even try to be covert about it when the took all of these bins and then tossed all of them into the same general-waste trash truck as it drove by.

The other ones they put out were even stranger.

At least these things were in two languages so you don't get that patronizing holier-than-thou impression from them, but these also had defense mechanisms of sorts so that if anyone who was collecting cans or cardboard to sell would potentially hurt their arms if they tried to reach inside and get the cans. It was a really silly thing because the city wasn't coming and collecting the refuse anyway so why not just let the poor who are digging through trash for cans just have it?

These things started to get overgrown with weeds and then were just ignored for a very long period of time. Then the other day I spotted one that was likely kicked out of the way by a nearby business owner who is sick and tired of this eyesore getting in the way.

As I was walking around the rest of the time I noticed that nearly all of the other ones, which were already replaced once, are also shoved to the side or simply gone.

This was a stupid idea to begin with because anyone who looks around just a little bit can see that this city and this country doesn't really care about the environment. People here recycle not out of some sort of dedication to preserving the world but because they can sell the stuff for a little bit of money. It's a good thing that is the case but oddly, glass is not recyclable so that just ends up in the ocean or something since most of the garbage here is just burned and whatever is left over, I have no idea what they do with it. Much of it ends up in the sea.

I wish that they would stop attempting to guilt tourists into recycling, which most of the visitors probably do or are forced to do by their government anyway. Instead, I would like to see Vietnam actually make REAL steps towards cutting down on plastic use, littering, and ramp up renewables. If they aren't going to do that, simply doing nothing is better than these crappy bins that nobody uses properly anyway.