The city’s beaches have been rendered spic and span now thanks to the hundreds of volunteers who turned up on Saturday morning to clear them of garbage.
As part of the International Coastal Cleanup Day observed by the Indian Coast Guard Region (East), Indian Maritime Foundation, volunteers from schools, colleges, corporates, Marine Police, Central Industrial Security Force and the Indian Air Force cleaned up nearly 72-km of coastal stretches in and around Chennai. Member of Parliament Kanimozhi and Mayor M. Subramanian inaugurated the cleaning drive.
Armed with long rods and garbage bags, the volunteers started the massive drive at 7 a.m. and continued to gather piles of waste till 10 a.m. On the Thiruvanmiyur, Elliot’s and Marina beaches, the 6,000-odd volunteers managed to gather six tonnes of garbage. A Coast Guard helicopter doing regular sorties encouraged the volunteers to keep going.
Kapil Kumar Kaushik, an IAF personnel, who picked garbage at the Thiruvanmiyur beach, said he was surprised to find so many glass bottles, plastic bottles, cups and wrappers strewn on the sand. He said there were few dustbins available on the beach here and that could be a reason why the public littered the beaches. Other volunteers at the Marina and Elliot’s beaches observed that the vendors who sold edible items at the beach had to be sensitised not to throw waste.
K. R. Srinivasan, coordinator for the Indian Maritime Foundation, said much of the waste gathered from the beaches was plastic, which is a major pollutant of coastal areas. “There is need to popularise the use of bio-degradable materials that do not pollute the environment,” he said. Volunteers at Thiruvanmiyur beach had been encouraged to use a recently invented bio-degradable plastic with enzymes in it, which could decompose in a matter of months, he added.
“We will study the nature of waste collected from the beach and analyse as to how we can eliminate it,” he said.
D. Sudarsanam, professor of Loyola College who mobilised students for the event, said nearly 32 colleges in the city had participated in the drive, and all the waste collected from the beaches would be handed over to the Chennai Corporation for appropriate disposal.
Organisers agreed that the campaign has been getting better over the years, as at least 10 more organisations were part of the event this year. However, some like Sunand Simon, representing NCC Navy from Loyola College, felt that besides creating buzz among institutions more could be done to involve morning walkers’ and those residing around the beach. Other organisations that participated in the drive include Tree Foundation, Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board, South Asia Cooperative Environment Programme and United Nations Environment Programme.
