SAVE SOUTHERN AVENUE 2009
Score: 11571 kgs.
(82 kgs + 137 kgs + 506 kgs + 117 kgs + 513 kgs + 730 kgs + 915 kgs + 1000 kgs app.+ 1492 kgs + 1051 kgs + 1500 kgs app. + 808 kgs + 2100 kgs)*Park Circus Maidan collection- 2060 kgs+ 1600 kgs...
A number of developments to report from last week.
The highlights:
* We crossed the 10,000 kgs mark!
* We inspired a clone in Burhani Scout Troop, which embarked on the clean-up of the Park Circus Maidan (these kids cleaned out 3700 kgs across just two mornings!)
* We picked placards off trees on Thursday (taking out overall score to about 450), lifted concrete on Saturday (we lifted a record 2100 kgs) and we picked placards-cum-prepared garbage mounds for prospective lifting on Sunday
We were pleased about the following as well:
* We conducted a quick tour of the gardened road divider with Mr RS Goenka, co-chairman of Emami Limited; he promised that as soon as we clear the patch of plastic-paper-concrete, his team would move in and start grassing the patch. That’s a breakthrough!
* We encountered the generosity of arnab basu of monginis who provided cakes for all volunteers and promised ongoing replenishments; we celebrated the 10,000th kg mark with a timely distribution of cakes!
* We are really close (a day of placard-picking) to making southern avenue completely free of illegal placards-banners
* We have been asked to address st joseph ’s school (bow bazaar) on Monday next, so we hope to widen the circle of Clean Calcutta
* We were surprised to find a 65-year-old ms maitree ghosh drive all the way from salt lake to clean garbage with us on southern avenue (wish southern avenue residents could just walk down and clean with us as well!)
Our forthcoming agenda:
Regroup on Thursday, 2 April 2009, diagonally across Birla Academy . Crack the magic 10K figure!
Regroup on Saturday, 4 April on the same stretch as Menoka Cinema to load concrete debris on to KMC trucks
Co-ordinate with the KMC for help with soil and plants so that we can green the one km stretch on Sarat Chatterjee Avenue
Co-ordinate with the Kolkata Improvement Trust on how we can collaborate and lift plastic waste from inside the parks.
This is how you can help:
Help us with introductions to the right people to speak to at Kolkata Improvement Trust.
Join us to pick the litter off the ground or off the trees. It is more fun that you think!
Do you know any young adult in your house, building or neighbourhood who would be interested to help? Send him / her our numbers.
Can you identify some really dirty spots (full of plastic and paper waste) in the city that we can possibly clean? Lead us!
Please contact Armaan Sood at 98304 33663.
Sunday, April 5, 2009
SSA-PARK CIRCUS MAIDAN CLEANING
Friends
Over the last two months, we attacked garbage (plastic-paper-concrete) only in southern avenue.
We opened a second front this morning. Park Circus maidan.
For various reasons: everybody uses it but nobody cleans it; one of the access entrances from orient row was completely barred by garbage (!); there is a fair amount of plastic across the maidan.
Nearly 30 volunteers turned up, the majority drawn from the burhani scout troop. Kids from 8 to18. completely charged and equipped to fight the battle.
This is what they achieved:
2060 kgs of garbage evacuated
The swing door entrance from orient row made fully functional after a gap of nearly two years
Maidan stretches swept and cleaned of garbage
The cleaned areas disinfected subsequently
All in just two hours of inspired working.
The good news is that the students from don bosco and mb girls high school will join from mid-april when their schools reopen.
Meanwhile, we regroup again at park circus maidan at 6 am on Sunday morning.
Join us!
Regards
Mudar patherya
Over the last two months, we attacked garbage (plastic-paper-concrete) only in southern avenue.
We opened a second front this morning. Park Circus maidan.
For various reasons: everybody uses it but nobody cleans it; one of the access entrances from orient row was completely barred by garbage (!); there is a fair amount of plastic across the maidan.
Nearly 30 volunteers turned up, the majority drawn from the burhani scout troop. Kids from 8 to18. completely charged and equipped to fight the battle.
This is what they achieved:
2060 kgs of garbage evacuated
The swing door entrance from orient row made fully functional after a gap of nearly two years
Maidan stretches swept and cleaned of garbage
The cleaned areas disinfected subsequently
All in just two hours of inspired working.
The good news is that the students from don bosco and mb girls high school will join from mid-april when their schools reopen.
Meanwhile, we regroup again at park circus maidan at 6 am on Sunday morning.
Join us!
Regards
Mudar patherya
SSA09
SAVE SOUTHERN AVENUE 2009
Score: 9471 kgs.
(82 kgs + 137 kgs + 506 kgs + 117 kgs + 513 kgs + 730 kgs + 915 kgs + 1000 kgs app.+ 1492 kgs + 1051 kgs + 1500 kgs app. + 808 kgs)*
More than 3000 kgs of waste cleared in three days. That pretty much sums up what we achieved last week.
Three highlights:
* While cleaning the stretch across Birla Academy of Art on Southern Avenue, we came across two ten-year-old installations by prominent sculptors surrounded by filth and obscured from public view
* KMC trucks turned up on schedule outside Menoka and stayed till 8 pm, enabling us to lift a tonne and a half of concrete across the green sidewalks of Sarat Chatterjee Avenue on Saturday last!
* We discovered a new problem – consistent disposal of ‘pooja ke phool’ inside plastic thelis around trees across the small mandir on Southern Avenue (a really small stretch yielded 800 kgs!)
* Students of Ashok Hall joined in on Thursday for the first time. Welcome!
As we near the 10,000 kg mark, we realize that this Dilli is far. The parks of Rabindra Sarobar (on the menoka side) are awash with plastic (one plastic bag hung from a tree 30 feet above the ground; how did it get there?) The sidewalks of the same road are ful of concrete litter.
Our forthcoming agenda:
Regroup on Thursday, 2 April 2009, diagonally across Birla Academy . Crack the magic 10K figure!
Regroup on Saturday, 4 April on the same stretch as Menoka Cinema to load concrete debris on to KMC trucks
Co-ordinate with the KMC for help with soil and plants so that we can green the one km stretch on Sarat Chatterjee Avenue
Co-ordinate with the Kolkata Improvement Trust on how we can collaborate and lift plastic waste from inside the parks.
This is how you can help:
Help us with introductions to the right people to speak to at Kolkata Improvement Trust.
Join us to pick the litter. It is more fun that you think!
Do you know any young adult in your house, building or neighbourhood who would be interested to help? Send him / her our numbers.
Can you identify some really dirty spots (full of plastic and paper waste) in the city that we can possibly clean? Lead us!
Please contact Armaan Sood at 98304 33663.
Be a part of Kolkata’s solution!
* Our collected waste has comprised wine bottles, hair combs, ice cream wrappers, gutka pouches, cigarette packets, plastic bags, trouser belts, toothbrushes, ID cards, condoms, sanitary pads, shirts, coconuts, medicine bottles, toothpaste tubes, cigarettes, bus tickets, polyurethane strips, spoons, shoe soles, running shoes, cement bags, purses, ice cream cups, bidi pouches etc.
Score: 9471 kgs.
(82 kgs + 137 kgs + 506 kgs + 117 kgs + 513 kgs + 730 kgs + 915 kgs + 1000 kgs app.+ 1492 kgs + 1051 kgs + 1500 kgs app. + 808 kgs)*
More than 3000 kgs of waste cleared in three days. That pretty much sums up what we achieved last week.
Three highlights:
* While cleaning the stretch across Birla Academy of Art on Southern Avenue, we came across two ten-year-old installations by prominent sculptors surrounded by filth and obscured from public view
* KMC trucks turned up on schedule outside Menoka and stayed till 8 pm, enabling us to lift a tonne and a half of concrete across the green sidewalks of Sarat Chatterjee Avenue on Saturday last!
* We discovered a new problem – consistent disposal of ‘pooja ke phool’ inside plastic thelis around trees across the small mandir on Southern Avenue (a really small stretch yielded 800 kgs!)
* Students of Ashok Hall joined in on Thursday for the first time. Welcome!
As we near the 10,000 kg mark, we realize that this Dilli is far. The parks of Rabindra Sarobar (on the menoka side) are awash with plastic (one plastic bag hung from a tree 30 feet above the ground; how did it get there?) The sidewalks of the same road are ful of concrete litter.
Our forthcoming agenda:
Regroup on Thursday, 2 April 2009, diagonally across Birla Academy . Crack the magic 10K figure!
Regroup on Saturday, 4 April on the same stretch as Menoka Cinema to load concrete debris on to KMC trucks
Co-ordinate with the KMC for help with soil and plants so that we can green the one km stretch on Sarat Chatterjee Avenue
Co-ordinate with the Kolkata Improvement Trust on how we can collaborate and lift plastic waste from inside the parks.
This is how you can help:
Help us with introductions to the right people to speak to at Kolkata Improvement Trust.
Join us to pick the litter. It is more fun that you think!
Do you know any young adult in your house, building or neighbourhood who would be interested to help? Send him / her our numbers.
Can you identify some really dirty spots (full of plastic and paper waste) in the city that we can possibly clean? Lead us!
Please contact Armaan Sood at 98304 33663.
Be a part of Kolkata’s solution!
* Our collected waste has comprised wine bottles, hair combs, ice cream wrappers, gutka pouches, cigarette packets, plastic bags, trouser belts, toothbrushes, ID cards, condoms, sanitary pads, shirts, coconuts, medicine bottles, toothpaste tubes, cigarettes, bus tickets, polyurethane strips, spoons, shoe soles, running shoes, cement bags, purses, ice cream cups, bidi pouches etc.
SAVE SOUTHERN AVENUE 2009
SAVE SOUTHERN AVENUE 2009
6112 kgs!
(82 kgs + 137 kgs + 506 kgs + 117 kgs + 513 kgs + 730 kgs + 915 kgs + 1000 kgs app.+ 1492 kgs)*
Much has happened since our last report.
Three highlights:
* Members of our team (ranging from a nine year old to a 45 year old) made a presentation to the mayor last week
* Less than 48 hours later, the mayor sent in two trucks to help us lift concrete garbage (our erstwhile nemesis).
* On Sunday morning, 25 students from Akshar joined in and we lifted a record 1492 tonnes!
So what is the big message? One: Big things begin to happen when you just hang in there.
Our forthcoming agenda:
Regroup on Thursday, 26 March 2009, diagonally across Birla Academy )
Regroup on Saturday, 28 March 2009, on the same stretch as Menoka Cinema to clear concrete debris and load on to the KMC truck
Co-ordinate with the KMC for help with soil and plants so that we can green the one km stretch on Sarat Chatterjee Avenue
This is how you can help:
Join us to pick the litter. It is more fun that you think!
Do you know any young adult in your house, building or neighbourhood who would be interested to help? Send him / her our numbers.
Can you identify some really dirty spots (full of plastic and paper waste) in the city that we can possibly clean? Lead us!
Please contact Armaan Sood at 98304 33663.
Be a part of Kolkata’s solution!
* Our collected waste has comprised wine bottles, hair combs, ice cream wrappers, gutka pouches, cigarette packets, plastic bags, trouser belts, toothbrushes, ID cards, condoms, sanitary pads, shirts, coconuts, medicine bottles, toothpaste tubes, cigarettes, bus tickets, polyurethane strips, spoons, shoe soles, running shoes, cement bags, purses, ice cream cups, bidi pouches etc.
6112 kgs!
(82 kgs + 137 kgs + 506 kgs + 117 kgs + 513 kgs + 730 kgs + 915 kgs + 1000 kgs app.+ 1492 kgs)*
Much has happened since our last report.
Three highlights:
* Members of our team (ranging from a nine year old to a 45 year old) made a presentation to the mayor last week
* Less than 48 hours later, the mayor sent in two trucks to help us lift concrete garbage (our erstwhile nemesis).
* On Sunday morning, 25 students from Akshar joined in and we lifted a record 1492 tonnes!
So what is the big message? One: Big things begin to happen when you just hang in there.
Our forthcoming agenda:
Regroup on Thursday, 26 March 2009, diagonally across Birla Academy )
Regroup on Saturday, 28 March 2009, on the same stretch as Menoka Cinema to clear concrete debris and load on to the KMC truck
Co-ordinate with the KMC for help with soil and plants so that we can green the one km stretch on Sarat Chatterjee Avenue
This is how you can help:
Join us to pick the litter. It is more fun that you think!
Do you know any young adult in your house, building or neighbourhood who would be interested to help? Send him / her our numbers.
Can you identify some really dirty spots (full of plastic and paper waste) in the city that we can possibly clean? Lead us!
Please contact Armaan Sood at 98304 33663.
Be a part of Kolkata’s solution!
* Our collected waste has comprised wine bottles, hair combs, ice cream wrappers, gutka pouches, cigarette packets, plastic bags, trouser belts, toothbrushes, ID cards, condoms, sanitary pads, shirts, coconuts, medicine bottles, toothpaste tubes, cigarettes, bus tickets, polyurethane strips, spoons, shoe soles, running shoes, cement bags, purses, ice cream cups, bidi pouches etc.
Sunday, March 22, 2009
SSA2009
SAVE SOUTHERN AVENUE 2009
4620 kgs!
(82 kgs + 137 kgs + 506 kgs + 117 kgs + 513 kgs + 730 kgs + 915 kgs + 620 kgs + 1000 kgs app.)*
Today was a litter-picking day with a difference for two reasons.
For the first time, we focused on concrete debris (bricks, grit, fragments etc.), which we had always dreaded for its weight and presence. This time we enlisted the support of the mayor and the KMC, which allocated two mini-trucks to help us cart away the concrete debris.
The result was that we extended the frontier in litter-picking. We focused on the heavy-duty stuff, we focused on the green payment stretch on Sarat Chatterjee Avenue (the same road as Menoka Cinema) and we removed sheets of concrete debris until we could see the brown of the ground again.
We were fortunate in having a considerably larger turnout of 60 student volunteers who worked from around 615 am to 8 am. The result was around a tonne of collected debris. This is what we did: shoveled the debris to as close to the pavement edge where other volunteers bagged the debris and yet another team hauled it into the waiting KMC vehicle. We covered nearly 100 linear feet and expect to proceed along the pavement line on Sunday (22 March) as well. Our objective: a sidewalk completely debris-free so that its soil is ready for rejuvenation and replanting (something that has not happened for years in the area!).
Before we end, a big thank you to…
The mayor Mr Bikash Ranjan Bhattacharya for engaging the support of the KMC volunteers right down to Arun Sarkar (Principal Engineer), Shreemanto Ghoshal, Shyamalendubabu and Mihir Mukherjee (local KMC face). We are also grateful to the KMC boys who drove the trucks and cheerfully helped us haul the heavy debris bags on to their vehicles.
The students of La Martiniere (Girls and Boys), St James and Loreto House.
The residents of the area who revived our spirits periodically with drinking water.
This is how you can can this mini-aandolan ahead:
Join us to pick the litter. It is more fun that you think!
Do you know any young adult in your house, building or neighbourhood who would be interested to help? Send him / her our numbers.
Can you identify some really dirty spots (full of plastic and paper waste) in the city that we can possibly clean? Lead us!
Please contact Armaan Sood at 98304 33663.
Be a part of Kolkata’s solution!
* Our 3000 kgs of collected waste has comprised wine bottles, hair combs, ice cream wrappers, gutka pouches, cigarette packets, plastic bags, trouser belts, toothbrushes, ID cards, condoms, sanitary pads, shirts, coconuts, medicine bottles, toothpaste tubes, cigarettes, bus tickets, polyurethane strips, spoons, shoe soles, running shoes, cement bags, purses, ice cream cups, bidi pouches etc.
4620 kgs!
(82 kgs + 137 kgs + 506 kgs + 117 kgs + 513 kgs + 730 kgs + 915 kgs + 620 kgs + 1000 kgs app.)*
Today was a litter-picking day with a difference for two reasons.
For the first time, we focused on concrete debris (bricks, grit, fragments etc.), which we had always dreaded for its weight and presence. This time we enlisted the support of the mayor and the KMC, which allocated two mini-trucks to help us cart away the concrete debris.
The result was that we extended the frontier in litter-picking. We focused on the heavy-duty stuff, we focused on the green payment stretch on Sarat Chatterjee Avenue (the same road as Menoka Cinema) and we removed sheets of concrete debris until we could see the brown of the ground again.
We were fortunate in having a considerably larger turnout of 60 student volunteers who worked from around 615 am to 8 am. The result was around a tonne of collected debris. This is what we did: shoveled the debris to as close to the pavement edge where other volunteers bagged the debris and yet another team hauled it into the waiting KMC vehicle. We covered nearly 100 linear feet and expect to proceed along the pavement line on Sunday (22 March) as well. Our objective: a sidewalk completely debris-free so that its soil is ready for rejuvenation and replanting (something that has not happened for years in the area!).
Before we end, a big thank you to…
The mayor Mr Bikash Ranjan Bhattacharya for engaging the support of the KMC volunteers right down to Arun Sarkar (Principal Engineer), Shreemanto Ghoshal, Shyamalendubabu and Mihir Mukherjee (local KMC face). We are also grateful to the KMC boys who drove the trucks and cheerfully helped us haul the heavy debris bags on to their vehicles.
The students of La Martiniere (Girls and Boys), St James and Loreto House.
The residents of the area who revived our spirits periodically with drinking water.
This is how you can can this mini-aandolan ahead:
Join us to pick the litter. It is more fun that you think!
Do you know any young adult in your house, building or neighbourhood who would be interested to help? Send him / her our numbers.
Can you identify some really dirty spots (full of plastic and paper waste) in the city that we can possibly clean? Lead us!
Please contact Armaan Sood at 98304 33663.
Be a part of Kolkata’s solution!
* Our 3000 kgs of collected waste has comprised wine bottles, hair combs, ice cream wrappers, gutka pouches, cigarette packets, plastic bags, trouser belts, toothbrushes, ID cards, condoms, sanitary pads, shirts, coconuts, medicine bottles, toothpaste tubes, cigarettes, bus tickets, polyurethane strips, spoons, shoe soles, running shoes, cement bags, purses, ice cream cups, bidi pouches etc.
Tuesday, March 17, 2009
SAVE SOUTHERN AVENUE 2009
SAVE SOUTHERN AVENUE 2009
3000 kgs!
(82 kgs + 137 kgs + 506 kgs + 117 kgs + 513 kgs + 730 kgs + 915 kgs)*
What a day!
We hit the three-tonne mark today in garbage collecting across Kolkata’s green areas on Sunday, 15 March 2009! Concurrently, we also reached our record single day collection of 915 kgs. And in doing so, we also created a record for the highest garbage collected in a single jute bag (55 kgs).
915 kgs – and with only about 22 volunteers. That’s an average of more than 40 kgs of waste per volunteer.
This record collection was the result of the following:
High enthusiasm among the students of La Martiniere Girls; after we had supposedly finished for the day, five of them decided to go back to collect again so that we could touch the day’s figure of 915 kgs and our consolidated magic number of 3 tonnes!
We were fortunate to be in a highly garbage-compact area, diagonally across the Birla Academy on Southern Avenue; a number of places were half a foot deep in plastic and coconut waste!
We were just next door to the vat so liquidating our bags of garbage and returning a second time was relatively easy.
We stayed in longer (two and a half hours instead of the usual two hours) and we just got better
Our forthcoming agenda:
Regroup on Thursday, 19 March 2009, at the same place (diagonally across Birla Academy )
Get through to the mayor and seek his help on how we can get bricks etc off the green (heavy!)
Put in a morning of ripping posters and placards off trees (nailing them is illegal!)
There is a possibility of three more schools joining our effort – Akshar, St Xavier’s and Pratt Memorial. Welcome!
This is how you can help:
Join us to pick the litter. It is more fun that you think!
Do you know any young adult in your house, building or neighbourhood who would be interested to help? Send him / her our numbers.
Can you identify some really dirty spots (full of plastic and paper waste) in the city that we can possibly clean? Lead us!
Please contact Armaan Sood at 98304 33663.
Be a part of Kolkata’s solution!
* Our 3000 kgs of collected waste has comprised wine bottles, hair combs, ice cream wrappers, gutka pouches, cigarette packets, plastic bags, trouser belts, toothbrushes, ID cards, condoms, sanitary pads, shirts, coconuts, medicine bottles, toothpaste tubes, cigarettes, bus tickets, polyurethane strips, spoons, shoe soles, running shoes, cement bags, purses, ice cream cups, bidi pouches etc
3000 kgs!
(82 kgs + 137 kgs + 506 kgs + 117 kgs + 513 kgs + 730 kgs + 915 kgs)*
What a day!
We hit the three-tonne mark today in garbage collecting across Kolkata’s green areas on Sunday, 15 March 2009! Concurrently, we also reached our record single day collection of 915 kgs. And in doing so, we also created a record for the highest garbage collected in a single jute bag (55 kgs).
915 kgs – and with only about 22 volunteers. That’s an average of more than 40 kgs of waste per volunteer.
This record collection was the result of the following:
High enthusiasm among the students of La Martiniere Girls; after we had supposedly finished for the day, five of them decided to go back to collect again so that we could touch the day’s figure of 915 kgs and our consolidated magic number of 3 tonnes!
We were fortunate to be in a highly garbage-compact area, diagonally across the Birla Academy on Southern Avenue; a number of places were half a foot deep in plastic and coconut waste!
We were just next door to the vat so liquidating our bags of garbage and returning a second time was relatively easy.
We stayed in longer (two and a half hours instead of the usual two hours) and we just got better
Our forthcoming agenda:
Regroup on Thursday, 19 March 2009, at the same place (diagonally across Birla Academy )
Get through to the mayor and seek his help on how we can get bricks etc off the green (heavy!)
Put in a morning of ripping posters and placards off trees (nailing them is illegal!)
There is a possibility of three more schools joining our effort – Akshar, St Xavier’s and Pratt Memorial. Welcome!
This is how you can help:
Join us to pick the litter. It is more fun that you think!
Do you know any young adult in your house, building or neighbourhood who would be interested to help? Send him / her our numbers.
Can you identify some really dirty spots (full of plastic and paper waste) in the city that we can possibly clean? Lead us!
Please contact Armaan Sood at 98304 33663.
Be a part of Kolkata’s solution!
* Our 3000 kgs of collected waste has comprised wine bottles, hair combs, ice cream wrappers, gutka pouches, cigarette packets, plastic bags, trouser belts, toothbrushes, ID cards, condoms, sanitary pads, shirts, coconuts, medicine bottles, toothpaste tubes, cigarettes, bus tickets, polyurethane strips, spoons, shoe soles, running shoes, cement bags, purses, ice cream cups, bidi pouches etc
Monday, March 9, 2009
1,355,000 grams...
SAVE SOUTHERN AVENUE 2009
82,000 grams
+ 137,000 grams
+ 506,000 grams
+ 117,000 grams
+ 513,000 grams
Of wine bottles, hair combs, ice cream wrappers, gutka pouches, cigarette packets, plastic bags, trouser belts, toothbrushes, ID cards, condoms, sanitary pads, shirts, medicine bottles, toothpaste tubes, cigarettes, bus tickets, polyurethane strips, spoons, shoe soles, running shoes, cement bags, purses, ice cream cups, bidi pouches etc.
It was a day of landmarks!
These are the two achieved: our motley collection of children and a few adults crossed the ONE TONNE mark in garbage collection; we achieved a record morning collection of 513 kgs (beating our previous best by 7 kgs).
And these happened for some pleasantly unexpected reasons.
Members of St James’ Nature Club turned up for the first time.
Some locality residents decided to sit on the fence no longer.
Some morning walkers stopped, thought and then asked, ‘Can we join?’
Absolutely unknown people volunteered their Ikons and Marutis to cart the garbage to the KMC vat
The result is that we ran short of collections bags, had to take the first load of bags to the vat, empty them and immediately drive back and hand them over for effective collecting.
This is what we did:
Cleaned and collected on the patch of green (sorry, brown) in front of Menoka Cinema.
Encountered more bricks, concrete and fragments than before so allocated teams to address these heavy duty items specifically.
Continued to attack plastic and paper.
The agenda for the coming week:
Add a weekday and Saturday collection sortie
Network with the KMC on how we can get bricks etc off the green (really heavy stuff!)
Put in a day of ripping posters off trees (nailing them is illegal!)
The team will resume its cleaning exercise at 6:00 on Saturday and Sunday and work until 8 across the Menoka Cinema stretch on Sarat Chatterjee Avenue .
“We intend to have a larger turnout next Sunday as some students are likely to join in with their exams getting over,” says Arman Sood. “Our target is to get to two tonnes of consolidated collected waste next Sunday!”
Will you join?
Or do you know any young adult in your house, building or neighbourhood who would be interested to help?
Please ask her / him to contact Armaan Sood at 98304 33663.
Be a part of Kolkata’s solution!
82,000 grams
+ 137,000 grams
+ 506,000 grams
+ 117,000 grams
+ 513,000 grams
Of wine bottles, hair combs, ice cream wrappers, gutka pouches, cigarette packets, plastic bags, trouser belts, toothbrushes, ID cards, condoms, sanitary pads, shirts, medicine bottles, toothpaste tubes, cigarettes, bus tickets, polyurethane strips, spoons, shoe soles, running shoes, cement bags, purses, ice cream cups, bidi pouches etc.
It was a day of landmarks!
These are the two achieved: our motley collection of children and a few adults crossed the ONE TONNE mark in garbage collection; we achieved a record morning collection of 513 kgs (beating our previous best by 7 kgs).
And these happened for some pleasantly unexpected reasons.
Members of St James’ Nature Club turned up for the first time.
Some locality residents decided to sit on the fence no longer.
Some morning walkers stopped, thought and then asked, ‘Can we join?’
Absolutely unknown people volunteered their Ikons and Marutis to cart the garbage to the KMC vat
The result is that we ran short of collections bags, had to take the first load of bags to the vat, empty them and immediately drive back and hand them over for effective collecting.
This is what we did:
Cleaned and collected on the patch of green (sorry, brown) in front of Menoka Cinema.
Encountered more bricks, concrete and fragments than before so allocated teams to address these heavy duty items specifically.
Continued to attack plastic and paper.
The agenda for the coming week:
Add a weekday and Saturday collection sortie
Network with the KMC on how we can get bricks etc off the green (really heavy stuff!)
Put in a day of ripping posters off trees (nailing them is illegal!)
The team will resume its cleaning exercise at 6:00 on Saturday and Sunday and work until 8 across the Menoka Cinema stretch on Sarat Chatterjee Avenue .
“We intend to have a larger turnout next Sunday as some students are likely to join in with their exams getting over,” says Arman Sood. “Our target is to get to two tonnes of consolidated collected waste next Sunday!”
Will you join?
Or do you know any young adult in your house, building or neighbourhood who would be interested to help?
Please ask her / him to contact Armaan Sood at 98304 33663.
Be a part of Kolkata’s solution!
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