One million kilograms plastic removed from Versova beach

As Versova Resident Volunteer (VRV) a massive resident movement working relentlessly to clean the solid waste from Versova beach enters its 40th week, the oceans are lighter than one million kilograms of plastic and other garbage. Moreover, as other similar movements for beach clean up are gradually slowing down, VRV has not only managed to gather support from civic body and celebrities apart from the residents, United Nations conservationists have also hailed the efforts of the team, wishing that the residents worldwide follow their footsteps.

The movement had caught the eye of Lewis Pugh, UN Patron of Oceans earlier this month. Talking to The Asian Age, Mr Pugh had said he came to know about the movement through social networking sites and VRV has set an example across the world. “It’s a very exciting development. I wish to thank every person who is helping clean up Versova Beach. It’s exciting because plastic pollution is having a devastating impact on our oceans and on wildlife. It just shows what groups of motivated and environmentally conscious people can achieve. They’ve picked up thousands and thousands of pieces of plastic which would have ended up in the sea to be eaten by seabirds and fish,” said Mr Pugh. He said it was his wish that if such a group was formed in every city in India and across the world, it could have a spectacular impact.

Talking about the development of the project, Afroz Shah, spearhead of the project that started the movement in October 2015 said that the team was elated by the success of reaching the one million kg mark. The total waste collection of the group for this week was a massive 1,65,000 kg with the total until now reaching 11,07,150kg.

“We have officially crossed the one million mark and it’s a great achievement for all of us. Veteran film director Subhah Ghai and local MLAs joined us this week and took part in the movement.” added Mr Shah.

Dipesh Tank, another environmentalist who was working on Beach-O-Beach, a similar beach clean up movement, said that though they completed a year on Sunday, they are witnessing a lack of participation from residents’ side.

“Today although Beach-O-Beach completes one year, people’s participation has gone down. At the same time groups like VRV inspire and encourage us. They have been doing some amazing work,” added Mr Tank.