Chennai Coastal Cleanup 2015 - Creating a Sustainable Future - Summary Update




Friday, May 8, 2015
6 years ago 150 CTC volunteers traveled to Tada, 2 hours from the city and went deep inside the forest to restore the scenic Tada falls to its original natural beauty. 500 big bags worth 2 tons of garbage including plastics and broken bottles were removed from this "eco tourism" spot. An environmental awareness movement was born. Soon after that we brought the movement closer to the city, to its own beautiful beaches covered by a layer of garbage through own from the city's rivers and shore. Over the years more and more people got sensitized and joined hands in the annual Chennai Coastal Cleanup. From a plain beach cleanup to segregation/recycling to long-term sustainable initiatives to reduce our garbage footprint. This year the passionate team behind Mission CCC has initiated many initiatives towards a greener and sustainable future. 

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Beach Cleanup, June 7th

In the first week, 30 companies, NGOs and schools totaling 1800 volunteers have signed up. Individual volunteer count stands at 170. We are closing in to cross the 2000 limit very soon. 
Are you, your company or NGO not yet in the list below then it's highly time to join forces now - individuals & group registrations.

Chennai Astronomy Club
Bhumi
tata consultancy services
Nokia Networks
Panayur Friends Group
Nokia Networks
Chennai Runners Marina Minnals
Patel Scouts & Guides
Cognizant
Innowave Healthcare
Heat and Control (South Asia) Pvt Ltd.
Momentive Performance Materials (India) Pvt Ltd
Quadrant 4 Software Solutions(p) Ltd
Techdew UX Design & Consulting Firm
Caterpillar India
Jade payments
V-Trust
Give Smiles
GAVS Technologies Pvt. Ltd
Bhumi
Aam Aadmi Party - TN
Adityaa Agro
Namma Beach Namma Chennai
Visumbu Org
Freshdesk
Rapid Response
Chromepet Cheetahs
HP


Nation-wide force

12 cities and nearly as many regional NGOs across South India have teamed up with us in cleaning up shores, rivers and lakes to create a national momentum of awareness:
Is your city not yet part of this list and you know a group or NGO who is environmental active then please reach out to us.

Pondicherry - CTC
Pulicat - Rapid Response
Tiruneveli - Thamirabarani River - Nellai Nature Club
Madurai - Vaigai River - Maram Mudrai
Vizag - Coastaline - MEECONS and Yellow Wing
Bangalore - Lake - CTC
Hyderabad - Great Hyderabad Adventure Club is most likely to join forces
Trichy - in planning phase
Kanyakumari - in planning phase
Dharmapuri - Ramakkal & Lakiapatti Lakes
Coimbture - Lakes - Environmental Foundation of India
Thanjavur - in planning phase


#NoPlasticChallenge

So far more then 250 members have completed the #NoPlasticChallenge, a 5 day challenge to eliminate the use of every-day plastics and adapt a more sustainable lifestyle. These individuals have carried our green message on the social media to tens of thousands of their friends creating a far reaching awareness. 
Are you ready to take the challenge?



Green communities

An growing number of apartment complexes are showing interest to go green - e.g. segregate garbage and recycle dry waste to reduce the 5000 tons of city garbage footprint that gets dumped every day at the beautiful Palikarnai marshland. Our members are discussing with the associations and organizing various initiatives to create awareness among the (kids of the) residents to go green. Your apartment complex is not yet in the list below? Highly time to step in.


Tranquil AcresKovilambakkam
RWD palmMedavakkam
EmbassyPerumbakkam
Prime TerraceAdyar
kg srivathsa garden apmtsSri Nagar colony
EsplanadeTondiarpet
RV EnclaveMedavakkam
Saffron Heightszamin Pallavaram
swagatham appartmentnungambakkam
Opal BuildingThoraipakkam
ApartmentSowcarpet
Doshi ApartmentVelacherry
VOC STRajakilpakkam
PadmavathiThirumullaivoyal
Gokulam AptsAdayar
shanti colonynear MMDA signal
independent housethiruvanmiyur
The Nest ApartmentsRathnanagar, Teynampet
Bollineni HillsideChemmencherry
Land Marvel KarpagambaMandaveli
Bagawathi ApartmentsVelachery

Green Business

Many of the major IT and other sector companies have been part of the Chennai Coastal Cleanup for the past few years. Ten Thousand+ employees from 100+ corporates participated across 5 editions. This year many companies have shown interest to engage in a more sustainable long term future by initiating a discussion with us on responsible solid waste management and recycling. If your company is also interested to go green then let us know over here.

Reed Elsevier
Cognizant
Anna university
Avnet Services
Cognizant Technology Solutions
Siemens PLM
Amec Foster Wheeler
TCS
TCS
CSC;Computer Sciences Corporation
Newgen KnowledgeWorks
Virtusa Consulting Services
Aqua Designs India Private Limited
Jadepayments
Inorya Soft Private Limited


The Recycle Wizard!

Chennai Trekking Club has teamed up with Earth Recycler to segregate and recycle maximum garbage collected from the Coastal Cleanup, apartment complexes and corporates. Last year Earth Recycler recycled 85% of the 50 tonnes of garbages collected by 5000 volunteers from 20km of Chennai beaches reducing significantly the amount of garbage going to Pallikarnai


Our Future

We are not inheriting this planet from our grandfathers, we are borrowing it from our children. Our volunteers have been engaging kids, families, schools and study groups indrawing competitions to create awareness on ocean pollution caused by our ever growing toxic garbage dump. If you know of any groups which would be interested to participate then please let us know.


Awareness through Performance

Our volunteers are now shying away from public performances to educate our fellow citizens on the harmful impact of plastics and garbage on the environment and our own health. Our members started rehearsing dance steps lead by professional choreographers through Flashmobs and Streetplays. Just like last year our colleagues from the Bharathi Scouts will perform a MIME. We are also calling out to Bloggers to help us spreading our message! Not part of the action yet? It's not too late yet to sign up!


Learning

Over the past several weeks hundreds of members have attended various green workshops to learn about many easy ways to live more sustainable. More workshops are in the pipeline....

Organic Farming by Kannan from ePagemaker
Sustainable Living by reStore and Ritambhara


Experience

There is no better way to learn then through hands-on experience. Hundreds of our members, families and kids have visited on CTC's Organic Farm near Arakkonam in the past two months to work, volunteer and learn about ways to grow our own green food. Visits will continue to be organized every 2-3 weeks throughout the year. 


Awareness

To defeat your enemy you must know your enemy. Modern day society has packed us all up in plastic wrappers, polythene covers, paper cups and straws, many of these use-and-throw items have an average useful lifespan of a few seconds to a few minutes before they get disposed in the environment and poison our own health. Our CCC team has been busy visualizing many interesting facts about plastic and its impact through various Did You Know posters and Quiz questions.


Say NO to cups and bottles

To fight the battle against the never ending stream of millions of paper cups and use-and-throw water bottles which we use every day and directly throw away, polluting our environment CTC's creative team has made some beautiful mug and stainless steel bottle designs which you ll be able to order soon with your name and CCC/CTC logo and a strong visual message to create awareness among your colleagues and friends.



Motion Pictures 

CTC's creative team has been busy shooting and editing a number of videos to create awareness:


Recycling & Plastic Free Shopping

Team CCC is creating an exhaustive list of local neighborhood recycle shops across the city to connect our members interested to reduce their garbage footprint at home through segregation. At the input side we are also preparing a list of plastic free stores where you can buy your groceries naturally without generating waste. Interested to go green at your own home? Join us here.


Be part of the change

Feeling excited about all the above? Wanna actively contribute towards a greener future and be part of the lead volunteer team which is driving mission CCC? You can join us every Wednesday 7:15pm at ePagemaker, Thirunvanmyur to drive the change!


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