You can help clean up beaches in your city by participating in the environment ministry's cleanliness cum awareness drive in 50 beaches under a campaign called "Swachh-Nirmal Tat Abhiyan" from November 11 to 17.
The beaches identified for the campaign are in Gujarat, Daman and Diu, Maharashtra, Goa, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Puducherry, Andhra Pradesh, and Odisha. The beaches have been identified after consultation with the state governments according to a statement by the environment ministry.
The cleaning drives will be undertaken by involving school/college students of eco-clubs, district administration, institutions, volunteers, local communities and others. Beach cleaning activities will be taken up for two hours every day on a minimum of one kilometre stretch of the beach. Sand cleaning machines will also be deployed at 15 beaches. Waste collected will be processed as per Waste Management Rules, 2016.
"Environment Education Division of the Ministry and Society of Integrated Coastal Management (SICOM) will be responsible for the overall coordination for the drive in 50 beaches. The Ministry has also decided that on completion of the drive, the best three beaches will be suitably awarded along with a certificate of appreciation for all the participating eco-clubs," the environment ministry said in a statement.
Earlier this year, Prime Minister Narendra Modi called for a complete phase-out of single use plastic items by 2022. The Centre had issued an advisory on the phase out which asked states to "curb" manufacturing all plastic carry bags, with or without handles, irrespective of thickness and size; plastic cutlery including plates, plastic cups, glass, straws, stirrers etc and styrofoam cutlery by October 2 and instead encourage manufacturers and consumers to shift to other environment-friendly materials.