Drives help beaches get cleaner by 30 percent

Chennaiites who love the city beaches have been trying their best to beautify them by removing trash every weekend for more than 10 years. Yet, there seems to be only a marginal dip in the quantity of garbage collected over the years as despite all the efforts, beach goers in the city seem to have learnt little about keeping beaches clean.

Volunteers who clean beaches said that they have witnessed a change over the last few months in visitors’ attitude to throwing garbage on the beach, while officials said that they found that the beaches were 20-30 per cent cleaner compared to two years ago.

They also claimed that the increasing number of citizens getting engaged in cleaning beaches has attracted the state government’s attention and they expect it to come up with some initiative to bring about a permanent solution to the problem of littering on beach.

Among the bodies that organise these clean-up drives, Chennai Trekking Club has been engaged in the activity for almost a decade. They collect garbage from the beaches weekly and run a signature campaign involving over 10,000 volunteers. “We clean beaches in the city every week, especially those near the slums at Srinivasapuram in Tiruvanmiyur where residents don’t have bins in their locality,” said Ashok Rajendran, a volunteer at Chennai trekking club- Zero Kuppai Movement.

“The residents are not allowed to dispose waste into bins in surrounding streets as local residents oppose it. So, they don’t have an option rather throw their trash near the shore. We started cleaning up this locality two years ago and have collected at least a tonne of waste,” added Ashok. Speaking about the attitude of the people towards littering, he said, “There is has been some change among locals who have been watching us clean the place regularly. A few started to collect their wastes from home and dump it when sanitary workers arrive.”

Volunteers claim plastic bottles are the most common waste collected from beaches, followed by rags and slippers. “Clean-up drives do not provide a permanent solution to keep beaches clean. People who visit the beaches should realise that it is their responsibility to dispose their trash properly,” said another volunteer, Gokul.

“Even if dustbins are available only at Marina and Besant Nagar beaches, is the job of the beachgoer to dump waste responsibly, but most do not seem to bother about it,” he added.

There are two simple steps with which the government can ensure trash-free beaches, claimed the volunteers. There should be a bin for every 50 meters along the city beaches for waste disposal and cleaning machines must be involved to collect the left over garbage regularly.

Hafiz Khan, a volunteer from Save a Turtle foundation which also organises beach clean-ups, said, “The Chennai Corporation has been taking many initiatives to clean beaches nowadays, but irrespective of how many dustbins are kept or how many times volunteers clean the beaches, beachgoers continue to litter the places. It is the responsibility of the public to keep their surroundings clean.”

“Recently, when we organised a tree plantation drive, we kept more than 10 dustbins available, but participants threw plastic wrappers on the floor. We can expect a change only from the next future generation. School children should be encouraged in keeping their places clean and the government must enforce strict regulations to bring a permanent solution to this problem,” Hafiz said.

Virginie Vlamnick, a Belgium national moved to Chennai eight years ago, lives near Injambakkam beach. She found that fishermen who stay near the beach threw garbage on the shore. As she wanted to clean the beach, she started an initiative ‘Namma beach Namma Chennai’ in 2011 to help clean the city beaches.

“The amount of waste thrown inthe beaches, especially plastics, has reduced now as there is more awareness among the residents who live near the shore. We want the public to be more aware of the cleanliness and future generation to participate actively in beach clean-up so they will be an example for the next generation,” said Virginie. “When we arrived here, this place was filled with litter, but now, especially in the last six months, there has been a noticeable change among the people here. They are more aware of how they dispose their waste now,” she added.

Speaking to DT Next, N Mahesan, the Chief Engineer (building andsolid waste management) of Chennai Corporation said, “We are planning to set up more dustbins along the beaches and put more cleaning machines to work at beaches. We are also trying to spreadmore awareness among the public. We will find a permanent solution tothis only when people get involved with the initiative. Soon, the corporation will implement penalty for people who litter beaches.”

Meanwhile, S Selvan, additional Chief Environmental Engineerfrom Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board said that their role was restricted to monitoring the beaches and suggesting ideas to the Chennai Corporation for beach clean-up. He, however, added, “Compared totwo years ago, city beaches havebeen cleaner by up to 20-30 percent owing to clean-up drives by volunteers.”