Let us pause for a moment and ask ourselves one simple question. Are we so dependent on plastic that we will let it drown ourselves? While some of us are hesitant to answer this question even though we have the results in front of us, one person has stepped up to help people come out of this plastic mess.
Life Beyond Numbers spoke to Vivek Gurav, a 24-year-old Software Engineer from Pune who is on a mission to change the plastic habit of his city with a bunch of weekend ploggers. He believes that “Not being part of the solution is the problem“.
In January 2020, Vivek Gurav, along with 520 ploggers completed 100 plogging drives and to date, they have collected 38000 kgs of trash. The team has adopted River Mutha for a complete trash free river bank. Also, it was a challenge to collect biomedical waste.
In case you missed, previously, we also talked to a 21-year-old who has inspired Mumbaikars to cleanup 360 Tonnes of Dadar Beach Garbage via his initiative Beach Please.
His stories of creating environmental awareness about the harmful effects of plastic started in 2019. Last year in September, Gurav with his team continuously worked for 4-weekends, which inspired them to do more. The idea was put into practice on 2 October 2019, which is celebrated as Gandhi Jayanti. Initially, it was Vivek’s friends and colleagues who joined hands with him or as he likes to say “visionary environment fighters.”
When the initiative was at its initial stage, Gurav took a 30-Day plogging challenge along with his friends, colleagues, and volunteers simply to achieve hygiene goals along with fitness.
“Every day I used to wake up at 6 am and go for plogging. From Dighi Hills, Hinjewadi Wakad area, IT area and earlier we have also traveled to Shivangi Nagar, Kotler. We also get requests from different areas, people who want us to go to their area for plogging. We have teamed up with 22-30 government schools to create awareness in Pune,” tells Gurav.
After coming to Pune, Vivek also searched for a government school where kids from the marginalized sections attended the classes. He adopted a school in Alandi, where he introduced Smart School Initiative and other projects meant for skill development, health and value education, Neurobics training and lots more. These included yoga and meditation as well.
Even Pune Municipal Corporation recognized and appreciated their idea and they coordinated the Mega Ploggathon 2020 in Pune on 28 December 2019. The Ploggathon saw huge participation of 105,000 citizens and overall trash collection in 1 hour was 19000 kgs.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi also mentioned Gurav and his team’s efforts in Mann Ki Baat and that grabbed the attention of the environmentalists across the country.
#MKBImpact
“Pune Ploggers: founded by Vivek Gurav, a software engineer from Pune started weekend plogging drives aiming to make Pune Plastic Free.”https://t.co/u1te1FUdyR#MannKiBaat #PlasticFreeIndia @PMOIndia pic.twitter.com/WwGdvWAYjJ— Mann Ki Baat Updates (@mannkibaat) October 9, 2019
There are many spiritual organizations and communities for whom taking a holy bath in a river or Visarjan (holy submersion) are necessary rituals. So, river Indrani is sacred, but it is polluted as well and therefore, Gurav and his team are cleaning up that as well for the past 4-5 years.
‘Not only there are idols of Plaster of Paris and plastic idols in water, but a lot of other pollutants that are destroying this river,’ tells Gurav to LBN.
REX Karmaveer Chakra Awardee in 2019, Gurav also won Indian Youth Award the same year for actively participating in numerous social issues. Further, he also represented India at MYWorld2030 Asia-Pacific Advocacy Programme, which is an initiative led by UNDP Bangkok Regional Hub, and United Nations SDG Action Campaign.
Right Now…
Afforestation is going on in Dighi Hills where Gurav and his team have collected about 2000 beer bottles, including broken ones and sent it to the processing plant. ‘From waste, we have created something new that can be reused. We redesign it and make it ready for the market,’ he told LBN.
What started as a small initiative, has begun to get a shape. No wonder soon it will take the shape of a huge movement. If you are in or around Pune, do your bit and help him to clear the plastic mess, simply by plogging!
To stay connected with his mission and to explore how you can do it for your own city, join their community Pune Ploggers on facebook.
India needs more such youth in action as torchbearers of change for a better tomorrow. Don’t you agree?