Mumbai Lawyer Clears 1.25Km Stretch Of Plastic Waste, Breathes New Life Into Mithi River!

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Indians are actively volunteering to contribute their share in making the environment plastic free. From a Mumbai youngster who volunteered to clean the Dadar beach to Hisar people who have painted the walls of their city to remove filthy posters and comments from the wall; people have become better acquainted with their social responsibilities these days.

Similarly, a Versova-based lawyer, Afroz Shah initiated a cleanliness drive to make the city’s beaches beautiful. Along with his team, Afroz had collected 14 million kg of plastic and other pollutant waste from the Versova beach. He became a hero for people overnight so much so that his efforts were hailed and recognized by the United Nations as well.

Week 161.#BeatPlasticPollution #RiverMithi #Danapaanibeach

Schedule.

Cleaning and Tete with locals for circular economy . New date . New Love . New journey .

1. Sat – 12 to 2 pm – Dana Paani beach – Malad

2. Sun – 10 to 2 pm – Mithi River –
Powai .

Pls join. pic.twitter.com/VgGP2iVNyv

— Afroz shah (@AfrozShah1) November 16, 2018

Afroz is back in the news with another successful cleanliness drive which he has been working on since 31 weeks. Leading a team of several people, he has managed to clean 1.25-km stretch of plastic waste alongside Mithi river. People living in the slums where the river originates were among the prominent participants in this drive.

Dwellers of 6,000 homes in the Filterpada slum colony near Vihar Lake, the origin of river Mithi collected tonnes of plastic waste and handed it over to Afroz for recycling. Along with his team, he plans to clean the entire 18 km stretch of Mithi river soon.

“We started visiting the Filterpada slum colony every Sunday around 5 am, asking residents to just wash whatever plastic they had, such milk packets and biscuit sachets, and keep these aside. Gradually we trained them into cleaning plastic and segregating waste. Now they’re completely involved in the campaign,” Shah told Mumbai Mirror.

Week 161.#BeatPlasticPollution #Connectwithnature#Mithiriver

Tete with students from Thakur college of law – Need to hug nature as we hug our loved ones.

Recce at the mouth of Mithi River – This river needs our hug.

We intend to Hug it tight and long – New love – New date pic.twitter.com/JEm0bd7VJv

— Afroz shah (@AfrozShah1) November 14, 2018

Aqib Sheikh, a resident of Filterpada slum said that the cleanliness campaign has helped the slum dwellers to deal with the plastic waste efficiently. “We have been trained by Shah and his team in cleaning plastic and segregating garbage. We are fully in it and and want to see the river clean. Every Sunday we keep the plastic waste outside our homes for Shah’s volunteers to take away,” Sheikh said.

 

Shah has educated the slum dwellers about ‘circular economy’ so that maximum plastic waste can be converted into resources. “Soiled and contaminated plastic is not accepted in recycling centers and they end up in landfills. Hence, it was important to train the residents to clean the milk pouches and other plastic waste that we can pick up every Sunday. This slum, housing around 30,000 people, is located near the spot where Mithi originates and without their support, the river cannot be cleaned,” Shah said

Talking to NDTV about his project, Afroz said, “The idea behind Mithi river cleanup is to create an army of people who love and value natural water bodies. I realised how bad the condition of Mithi river is when an Imam of a nearby mosque told me that 30 years ago, he used to use the water from the river as drinking water and now it has turned into a sewage. The river is 18 kilometres long starting at Vihar lake in Powai and ending near the Bandra Kurla Complex. Looking at the condition of the river I can say that it is going to take at least five years to clean the river.”

We hope it continues successfully and more and more people join the team to make the river free from pollution.