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!
842,000
SAVE SOUTHERN AVENUE 2009
82,000 grams
+ 137,000 grams
+ 506,000 grams
+ 117,000 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.
Report
Ok, so this was our first Sunday of a decline in collections.
Not unexpected. Most students, who had turned up at six am over the last three Sundays, decided to stay home to study this time round. The surprise is not that 20-25 students did not turn up; the surprise is that around eight did.
So what we collected (117,000 grams) on Sunday 4 (1 March 2009) in our Save Southern Avenue Project 2009 was encouraging. Taking our total to 842,000 grams across four collections days.
The team of young adults (6-16 years) comprised local residents. A mention must also be made of adult residents who donated specially manufactured jute bags to collect waste and others who contributed gloves.
The young adult team resumed its cleaning exercise at 6:00 and worked until 8 across the Menoka Cinema stretch on Sarat Chatterjee Avenue . Thereafter, the waste was weighed and disposed under supervised guidance in the plastic segment of the waste vat on Southern 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 cross a tonne of collected waste next Sunday.”
The team of green crusaders intends to repeat this exercise at 600 am on Sunday, 8 March 2009.
Can 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
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.
Report
Ok, so this was our first Sunday of a decline in collections.
Not unexpected. Most students, who had turned up at six am over the last three Sundays, decided to stay home to study this time round. The surprise is not that 20-25 students did not turn up; the surprise is that around eight did.
So what we collected (117,000 grams) on Sunday 4 (1 March 2009) in our Save Southern Avenue Project 2009 was encouraging. Taking our total to 842,000 grams across four collections days.
The team of young adults (6-16 years) comprised local residents. A mention must also be made of adult residents who donated specially manufactured jute bags to collect waste and others who contributed gloves.
The young adult team resumed its cleaning exercise at 6:00 and worked until 8 across the Menoka Cinema stretch on Sarat Chatterjee Avenue . Thereafter, the waste was weighed and disposed under supervised guidance in the plastic segment of the waste vat on Southern 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 cross a tonne of collected waste next Sunday.”
The team of green crusaders intends to repeat this exercise at 600 am on Sunday, 8 March 2009.
Can 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!
Tuesday, February 24, 2009
SAVE SOUTHERN AVENUE 2009
82,000 grams
+ 137,000 grams
+ 506,000 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.
This is the quantity (725 kgs) and quality of plastic-paper garbage collected by a mere 35 young adults of Kolkata in the park skirting the Dhakuria Lakes on Day 1, 2 and 3 of their Save Southern Avenue Project 2009 (8, 15 and 22 February). The team significantly exceeded its target of 160,000 grams by collecting 506,000 grams.
“This absolutely amazing achievement was the result of having selected a compact area of working,” says Armaan Sood, who initiated the drive. “Since teams worked at a reasonable distance from each other, it was possible to compete visibly. A weighing machine in the vicinity made it possible for each team to try and collect as much as possible within one bag. The record for the highest litter collected in a single bag was 17 kgs as against the average collection per bag of 7 kgs. This ‘game’ incentivised outperformance.”
The team of young adults (6-16 years) comprised local residents, Nature Club members of La Martiniere School (girls and boys) and members of Art of Living Foundation.
A mention must also be made of adult residents who donated specially manufactured jute bags to collect waste and others who contributed gloves.
The young adult team, armed with gloves and jute sacks, resumed its cleaning exercise at 6:00 and worked until 8:30 am on 22 February across the Menoka Cinema stretch on Sarat Chatterjee Avenue . Thereafter, the waste was weighed and disposed under supervised guidance in the plastic segment of the waste vat on Southern Avenue.
The team of green crusaders intends to repeat this exercise at 600 am on Sunday, 1 March 2009.
Can 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!
Sunday, February 15, 2009
SAVE SOUTHERN AVENUE 2009- Day Two
Day two saw more enthusiasm, excitement and verve from the ‘Green Warriors’ as we call ourselves. There was a twofold increase in the number of participants in the Save Southern Avenue 2009 campaign. The campaign though called SAVE SOUTHERN AVENUE 2009 not only aims at making this neighborhood plastic and garbage free but also to inspire other localities to do the same until we have a greener, safer and healthier Kolkata.
It was extremely heartening to see nearly 45-50 people coming forward to help, today, just our second week into the campaign. We were joined by the Nature Clubs of La Martiniere for Boys and La Martiniere for Girls. We started our work in front of the Safari Park entrance (Our weekly starting point) at 6:15 am amidst the misty lake while the sun rose. Hand gloves and jute sacks were distributed to everyone. Sacks and gloves in hand our large group split up into smaller ones and made their way around the area. Regular morning walkers came up to us and asked us what we were doing, why we were doing it and how we were doing it. It was wonderful to see some morning walkers volunteering to come up and help pick up the waste along with all of us.
The region was visibly cleaner after today’s efforts. After an hour and a half of rummaging, we managed to collect 1,37,000 Gms of plastic and garbage in over 30 large jute sacks.
At the end of it all it was a triumphant feeling standing around all those jute sacks containing everything under the sun. It felt good to see a cleaner and greener Lakeside. We hope to see an even better response next week so that we can strive towards achieving our goal of a plastic free Kolkata.
We will meet next on Sunday 22nd February at 6A.M. Do spread the word in your building, block, neighborhood and school.
‘JOIN THE REVOLOUTION! BE A PART OF THE SOLUTION'
Please contact
Arman Sood- 9830433663 (soodarman@gmail.com)
Sreyan Chowdhury- 9903076501 (sreyan@gmail.com)
for any further information.
Thursday, February 12, 2009
82000 gms
SAVE SOUTHERN AVENUE 2009
82,000 grams
Of wine bottles, hair combs, ice cream wrappers, gutka pouches, cigarette packets, plastic bags, trouser belts, toothbrushes, ID cards, condoms, sanitary napkins, shirts, medicine bottles, toothpaste tubes, polyurethane strips, spoons, shoe soles, purses, ice cream cups, bidi pouches etc.
This is the quantity and quality of plastic-paper garbage that was collected by a mere 20 kids of Southern Avenue in the park skirting the Dhakuria Lakes on on Day 1 of their Save Southern avenue Project 2009 (8 February). The team comprised resident young adults (6-16 years).
The young adult team was spread across five teams delegated across various parts of the park. Armed with gloves and jute sacks The team team started at 6:30 and worked until 8 am. Thereafter, the waste was disposed under supervised guidance in the plastic segment of the waste vat on Southern Avenue.
The team of green crusaders intends to repeat this exercise at 630 am on Sunday, 15 February 2009.
Do you know any young adult in your house, building or neighbourhood who would be interested to join?
Please ask her / him to contact Armaan Sood at 98304 33663.
Let us be a part of our neighbourhood’s solution!
82,000 grams
Of wine bottles, hair combs, ice cream wrappers, gutka pouches, cigarette packets, plastic bags, trouser belts, toothbrushes, ID cards, condoms, sanitary napkins, shirts, medicine bottles, toothpaste tubes, polyurethane strips, spoons, shoe soles, purses, ice cream cups, bidi pouches etc.
This is the quantity and quality of plastic-paper garbage that was collected by a mere 20 kids of Southern Avenue in the park skirting the Dhakuria Lakes on on Day 1 of their Save Southern avenue Project 2009 (8 February). The team comprised resident young adults (6-16 years).
The young adult team was spread across five teams delegated across various parts of the park. Armed with gloves and jute sacks The team team started at 6:30 and worked until 8 am. Thereafter, the waste was disposed under supervised guidance in the plastic segment of the waste vat on Southern Avenue.
The team of green crusaders intends to repeat this exercise at 630 am on Sunday, 15 February 2009.
Do you know any young adult in your house, building or neighbourhood who would be interested to join?
Please ask her / him to contact Armaan Sood at 98304 33663.
Let us be a part of our neighbourhood’s solution!
Sunday, February 8, 2009
SAVE SOUTHERN AVENUE 2009
SAVE SOUTHERN AVENUE 2009
Today was Day 1 of the SAVE SOUTHERN AVENUE CAMPAIGN. As they say ‘Begin with a Bang’…and so we did…we expected a turnout of 35-40 people but managed around 25 of us, that did not deter us one bit…we took our gloves and rug sacs and made are way to four corners of the safari park. Dividing ourselves into to groups or teams sure did arouse a lot of excitement among the young ones, but the plan didn’t work out as ultimately the garbage was all mixed. At the end of the day we all are together in this so it did not really make much of a difference as we achieved a good target of 82 kgs on Day 1 of the collection.
There were many of us who could not make it today but the collections and our work are all uphill from here on. We were to set out at around 6 o’clock in the morning but managed to begin only by 6:30….this is something we must get used to as someone or the other is always a little delayed. Another point is allocation of duties; we have to be little bit more organized with all our proceedings.
Sustainability of the campaign is of prime concern as we can’t let our cry fade away. We have to make it happen. We have to attract the morning walkers. We have to make them realize it’s their mess that we little ones are cleaning up and then they will join us in making Southern Avenue totally plastic free. For instance the chaiwalla felt guilty that we were picking up all the plastic cups that he threw around and vowed to keep a dustbin next to his stall. Mr.T.B.Jain came up to us and offered us jute bags from his factory the next time around and also said he would bring volunteers with him to clean up the area. These small little things are all going to come together to make one big dream into a reality. Spread the message in your schools, buildings in the entire locality.
Let’s aim big, let’s go on increasing our score…next time we should be “oh..! 82 kgs that was nothing yaar...See how much I’ve got this time...” Let this catch on. We have to have notices ready so that we have volunteers other than just us who are willing lend a hand. Practice what we preach is a must. We need to organize a few jute hand bags and we must stop people from entering the lakes with plastics bags. If people don’t enter with those bags the question of them littering doesn’t even come into the picture.
We have the vision, we have the power to do it….the only thing left for us to do is to sustain it.
‘JOIN THE REVOLOUTION BE A PART OF THE SOLUTION'
Contact:- Arman Sood-9830433663 (soodarman@gmail.com)
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