Kerala: 8,000kg trash removed in six days

Thiruvananthapuram: Around 400 bags of garbage was collected in six days during the beach cleaning drive at Kadinamkulam recently. The waste collected from around 2km-long stretch of the beach included plastic items used for food and other packaging, plastic straws, caps, spoons, cups, pen, bags, toys, balloons, net pieces etc.

The week-long cleaning mission covered Kadinamkulam beach and surrounding areas. The drive, a joint initiative of Kerala State Council for Science Technology and Environment (KSCSTE) with the support of Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change and Suchitwa Mission, was conducted under the project ‘Swachh – Nirmal Tat Abhiyan”.

The drive was inaugurated by A Ramachandran, vice-chancellor of Kerala University of Fisheries and Ocean Studies (KUFOS), in the presence of Kamalakshan Kokkal, state-level coordinator cum chief scientist of KSCSTE.

“Over 8,000kg of garbage was collected from beach through the cleaning drive spanning 2-3 hours daily. The major hurdle during the clean-up drive was removing plastics. Though volunteers used to collect waste regularly, the fishermen who used to go for fishing from the Puthukurichy coast return with bulk of plastic waste trapped in their fishing net. Volunteers kept cleaning the same spot regularly,” said Sarika A R, district nodal officer of KSCSTE.

The garbage was later handed over to Clean Kerala Company for further processing.

As many as 300 participants including the volunteers of National Service Scheme (NSS) of various schools and colleges, students of Government Higher Secondary School in Thonnakkal and Santhigiri Vidyabhavan Senior Secondary School in Koliyakode, Marian Engineering College in Kazhakkoottam, St Xavier’s College in Thumba and All Saints College along with 20 workers of National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme and general public took part in the mass cleaning drive.

The campaign will cover the beaches in 10 coastal states/union territories. In Kerala, the campaign will be held at Kadinamkulam, Marari beach in Alappuzha, Chavakkad in Thrissur, Koottayi beach in Malappuram, Kozhikkode beach, Muzhappilangad beach in Kannur and Valiyaparambu beach in Kasaragod.

“The beaches have been identified by the ministry itself. A team of 150 people involving school and college students who are part of eco clubs, institutions, volunteers and local communities will clean the beach daily. They will collect and segregate waste like plastic, bottles, polythene covers, leather items and rubber items and the collected items will be handed over to Clean Kerala Company for recycling,” said Sarika .

Any tools necessary for the drive will be supplied by the officials. As a part of event, competitions like quiz, poster making on theme ‘bleach cleanliness etc. will be held in schools.