Beach Cleaning Initiative at Dana Pani Beach

After a talk and presentation by Mr. Afroz Shah; an activist spearheading beach cleaning activity, we were very excited to be a part of a Beach Cleaning initiative on the 6th May 2019 at Dana Pani beach, Malad.

 

 

While we did expect to see a dirty beach, we were shocked to see layers of garbage covering the beach, which probably was dumped by the sea during high tide. This beach has mangroves and all the trees of the mangrove were also covered with plastic, hanging off their branches and roots.

 

 

When we reached the beach, we were briefed by Mr. Afroz Shah’s team, who explained the task and the safety procedures, to us. We were given gloves which would protect our hands. We were taken to one particular area of the beach to start clearing the garbage. We were shown how to sift the sand out, so that only the plastic could be collected and discarded into the big tubs provided to us.

 

 

After all the tubs were filled, we started passing them up to the BMC garbage truck. As we finished our task, we were informed that we had collected two truckloads of garbage. We were happy for our contribution and thanked the volunteers for giving us a chance to help preserve sea life, and the environment.

 

 

Although the task was tiring, we felt good that we had made a small contribution to conserve nature. We would love to do it again, before the monsoons arrive. That will bring in high tides and take all the garbage into the sea and the oceans, endangering sea life.

 

We know that the task of cleaning the beaches is humungous and our group of 44 students and 6 teachers, would have made a very small contribution.

 

Nevertheless, we are happy that all of us have been sensitized to the cause. We hope to get another opportunity to do this again soon.

 

Naisha, Akshay and Diva
Class 7A and B