Volunteers clear 7,000kg garbage from city beaches

CHENNAI: About 7.2 tonnes of trash was collected from across beaches along Tiruvanmiyur and Besant Nagar on Sunday morning after more than 4,800 volunteers came forward to clean the beaches in a movement to eliminate garbage from entering the sea.
The activity, organized by the Environmentalist Foundation of India (EFI), was carried out on beaches along Broken Bridge, Ashtalakshmi temple, Thiruvanmiyur Fourth Seaward Road, Kottivakkam, Palavakkam, and in Neelankarai to commemorate the World Environment Day on June 5.
“Since June 5 falls on a Wednesday, it would not be possible to mobilize such a strong army of volunteers. Using our social media outreach, and reaching out to schools, colleges, corporates, and the public, we could reach out to such a large number of people on Sunday,” said Vignesh Mahesh, of EFI.
He added that it is imperative to create awareness on conserving our natural systems from mistakes of urbanization that is turning our water bodies into cesspools of sewage and garbage, thus putting habitats of other organisms at peril.
The cleaning up began at 7am and went on until 9am. Non-biodegradable garbage including plastic bottles, rubber items, thermocol, clothes, glass bottles, coconut shells, slippers, and nylon ropes were removed during the clean-up drive. More than 3,100 volunteers were involved in removing trash along the beach stretch near Ashtalakshmi temple, from where about 4.6 tonnes of trash was removed.
“This was a mass volunteer-driven programme, aimed at creating awareness on conserving our water bodies. Because of the huge number of volunteers who came forward, we could cover a long stretch from Neelankarai up to Broken Bridge in Besant Nagar. Ahead of the programme, volunteers were sensitized on the importance of the Chennai coastline.