Chennai Coastal Cleanup/5, India Clean Sweep - June 8th - post-event

Thank you for your participation in the 2014 edition of the Chennai Coastal Cleanup/India Clean Sweep.

A zone wise photo compilation of all 16 Chennai beach zones, 3 Chennai lakes and 9 other participating cities in South India have been shared on our FB page:

https://www.facebook.com/chennaicoastalcleanup5?ref=hl

Tag, like, comment to spread awareness among your friends.

We invite you to share your feedback and photo links through the same page with all participants.

6200 volunteers from 150 Corporates, NGOs, colleges, schools and individuals collected and and segregated 50 tonnes of garbage:

* Chennai beaches from Marina till Panayur: 4800 volunteers, 33 tonnes garbage

* Chennai lakes: 250 volunteers, 8 tonnes garbage

* 9 participating cities (beaches, lakes, rivers): 1250 volunteers, 9 tonnes garbage

Out of the total collected volume of garbage: 32% plastics. 18% glass, 50% others. The Cleanup was inaugurated by Chennai Mayor Saidai Duraisamy at 6am at Eliot Beach. Our recycle partner Earth Recycler collected all the garbage from all zones and will be recycling 80% of the materials to minimize the materials that eventually moves to the garbage dump. The main objective of this initiative was to create more awareness among the general public against the use of plastics and reduction of our garbage footprint through segregation, recycling and reuse.

To create awareness among a wider audience, the Coastal Cleanup was extended this year to 10 major cities in South India including beaches, lakes and rivers. We covered Bangalore, Hyderabad, Coimbatore, Pondicherry, Trichy, Vizag, Tirunelvelli, Kanyakumari, Tuticorin. CTC is collaborating with regional NGOs in these cities: Nellai Nature Club, Pearl City Nature Society, Thaneer, National Troopers for Conservation of Nature, Great Hyderabad Adventure Club, Mother Earth Environmental Consciousness Society, Prayukti, Socio Economic Development Association. The South India wide cleanup was named operation "India Clean Sweep" and will expand to more cities next year.

In Chennai the Cleanup was also extended to 3 lakes around the city - Madambakkam, Narayanapuram and Keezhkattalai lakes in collaboration with Environmental Foundation of India (EFI). EFI actively pursues restoration of lakes which are vital water sources for the city and are getting encroached due to the ever expanding real estate around the city. During the 1st week of June EFI performed street plays at various colleges and IT parks to create awareness on the deterioration of our environment. On Saturday evening June 7th the Bharathi Scouts group performed a mime streetplay at Eliot beach to sensitize the beach visitors.

The Chennai Dive Club in association with Temple Adventures from Pondicherry and Tamilnadu Coastal Security Police dove into the sea off Besant Nagar and retrieved marine debris from below the sea to create awareness on the impact of pollution on marine life. Many turtles and fishes get entangled in old fishing nets dumped in the sea and die. In 2012 the Chennai Coastal Cleanup got into the LIMCA book of records as the quickest cleanup of the largest volume of garbage.

Articles in the media today

The Hindu