Around 5pm at Hanoi Reunification Park on Sunday, dozens of members of the Hanoi-based 3R group are busily talking to people at the park about their upcoming Mottainai Fair. Some of them are distributing leaflets of the Fair, enthusiastically explaining people about the meaning of the event on the background music of the song Mottainai Fair, the traditional song of the event. Bui Minh Trang from Hanoi University, a member of Hanoi 3R group, explains: "The song calls on people to not Mottainai, which is a Japanese word meaning "let's not waste it". The song’s lyrics mention some mottainai activities in daily life such as papa forgets to turn off TV at night or someone don’t turn off the water tap after use. The song is very simple but it helps educate people a sense of regret concerning waste when the intrinsic value of an object or resource is not properly utilized." The concept of Mottainai fairs was created by 2004 Nobel Peace Prize winner and Kenyan environmentalist Wangari Maathai, who says mottainai roughly equates to the English phrase "reduce, reuse, recycle." The fair is an annual event organized in many countries to encourage people to protect the environment by recycling and reusing products. No doubt, Mottainai has been already an international word. It is everywhere throughout the world in different ways. And here, in Vietnam, the volunteers of the Hanoi 3R group are propagandising the concept of Mottainai to people by people. Bui Yen Anh is head of the group: "People can support the project by donating their old stuffs and receive the classified card A, B or C for each stuff. Then people came to the Mottainai Fair and use those cards to exchange other’s things. We organized this kind of event for 7 times already, 6 times in Hanoi and once in Hoi An ancient town in central Vietnam and received great support of all people." 70 year-old Nguyen Van Thanh took part in a Mottainai Fair once before: "I attended a Mottainai Fair at this park once before. I think this kind of event is very significant as it gives us chance to save things. We might don’t need something anymore but other people may need it and this fair is a place we can meet and exchange our things for good, instead of just leaving them, especially as prices of commimodities are getting higher and higher."
With the theme “Eco Family” for this year’s Mottainai Fair, Hanoi 3R volunteers are also planning to organize booths where they can share with all people, young and old alike, some tips to live economically and protect the environment by saving gas, electricity, water or planting vegetables in door.