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!
Tuesday, February 24, 2009
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
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'