A drawn conversation with Hem Sophem, the founder and one of the team leaders of Nisset Plastic, a youth-led organisation in Phnom Penh.
The grassroots movement has grown since 2022 into a large social media movement that inspires thousands across Cambodia. For the first two years, there were not many helpers, and Sophem Hem would go out after school collecting rubbish on his own with a single plastic bag. Environmental issues became his personal mission.
Today, one thousand clean-up activists support Nisset Plastic, and its social media platforms have a huge number of followers. The young people enter tunnels where plastic and waste have sometimes been stuck for many years. They risk their own health to create a more liveable environment for future generations.
Sophem Hem says, with a twinkle in his eye, that he hopes his organisation will one day become obsolete because the environment will be so clean that it will not require constant cleaning. A growing awareness of waste disposal and increased sensitivity to one’s surroundings would be his dream for the future.
Cambodia, February 2026