Mumbai’s Versova beach clean up

CAIRO – 5 June 2017: Versova beach in Mumbai, India has experienced “the world’s largest cleanup,” as it has been called by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP.)

In 2015, Lawyer Afroz Shah, alongside his 84 year old neighbor, initiated a movement to clean up Versova beach due to its severely littered state.

The residents near Versova could not walk on the shore due to the smell and mass of the garbage present.

According to Shah, another catalyst for the cleanup was the damage imposed upon the wildlife and marine life that would have resided at the beach, yet prevented because of the garbage.

Along with the 200 starting volunteers, Shah handpicked the garbage, which mostly consisted of plastic, off the shore of the beach.

Almost two years later, the 1.5 mile stretch has been cleared of over 11,000,000 pounds of garbage and is maintained regularly.

The United Nations has awarded Shah with the “Champion of the Earth” award due to his major efforts.

Still, Shah would like to expand his cleanup efforts to the Mangrove forests, also severely littered.