Two years ago, the Versova beach was virtually a landfill with plastic waste about 5.5 ft deep! After efforts of hundreds of volunteers, lead by Afroz Shah, Versova is a pristine beach. The volunteers spent two years picking approximately 11,684,500 pounds of trash.
The team cleaned the upstream rivers, taught the locals about sustainable waste management and put systems in place to prevent future plastic pollution of beaches.
After decades, hatchlings of the vulnerable Olive Ridley species of turtles have been found in the Versova beach. What is more heartening is volunteers have slept on beaches overnight to protect them from wild dogs and prey birds. Atleast 80 turtles have made their way to the Arabian sea in the southern part of the Versova beach, past week.
When Shah started off, he started picking up waste by hand for the initial many weeks. It snowballed into an effort where hundreds of people joined him to make this happen which the UN called the “The Wold’s Largest Clean Up Project”.
This heartening story is a testament to how efforts by each one of us can create a positive change in the world around us.
Week 127 .
Fantastic news for Mumbai .
We got back Olive Ridley Sea Turtle after 20 years. Historic moment
Nested and Hatched at our beach. We facilitate their journey to ocean.
Constant cleaning helps marine species.
Marine conservation centre needed at @versovabeach pic.twitter.com/j79xCKamNh
— Afroz shah (@AfrozShah1) March 22, 2018