Coast Guard clean-up drive held in Kochi

Minister of State for Petroleum and Natural Gas, and Tourism Suresh Gopi inaugurated the coastal clean-up drives organised by Indian Coast Guard and others in Fort Kochi and Kuzhuppilly beaches on September 21.
| Photo Credit: special arrangement

A coastal clean-up drive was held on September 21 (Saturday) at Fort Kochi, Vypeen, Kuzhuppilly and Cherai beaches by the Indian Coast Guard (ICG) Headquarters (Kerala and Mahe) in coordination with Indian Oil Corporation Limited (IOCL) as part of the International Coastal Clean-up Day.

Minister of State for Petroleum and Natural Gas, and Tourism Suresh Gopi inaugurated the clean-up drive at Fort Kochi and Kuzhuppilly beaches. He emphasised the importance of maintaining coastline cleanliness to protect oceans and beaches. Volunteers from the ICG, IOCL, NCC, NSS, and NGOs, State and Central government employees, teachers, and personnel of the Coastal Police and the Kerala Police also participated.

A total of 1,800 kg of litter was collected from the beaches and were transported to a garbage dump by the Kochi Corporation.

International Coastal Clean-up Day is observed annually on the third Saturday of September to raise awareness about beach pollution. The theme, ‘Every bottle, every straw, every piece of trash you clean up can lead to cleaner, healthier oceans’, is part of the Swachh Sagar, Surakshit Sagar Abhiyan, according to an official release.

The Department of Marine Biology, Microbiology and Biochemistry, Cochin University of Science and Technology, in collaboration with the National Centre for Coastal Research, Chennai, conducted a coastal cleanup along Fort Kochi on Saturday.

The drive was conducted in association with the Department of Zoology, SNM College, Maliankara; Department of Zoology, St. Albert’s College, Ernakulam, and the NSS unit of Sacred Heart College, Thevara. A total of 31 sacks of footwear, 5 sacks of glass bottles, 14 sacks of plastic bottles, nine sacks of polystyrene, 15 sacks of thermocol, six sacks of plastic films/wrapers, and three heaps of wood waste were collected and removed from the beach.

The waste materials weighed 1,123 kg including 694 Kg of plastic. The programme concluded with the shiffting of waste for recycling through Plan@Earth, Kochi.