75 tonnes of waste collected from Visakhapatnam beaches in August last year used for making footwear, says IT Minister Amarnath

Information Technology and Industries Minister Gudivada Amarnath has said that the waste, collected from the Visakhapatnam city beaches in August last year during the mega beach clean-up was used for making sandals.

Information Technology and Industries Minister Gudivada Amarnath on Sunday said that the waste, collected from the Visakhapatnam city beaches in August last year during the mega beach clean-up, organised in association with ‘Parley for the Oceans’ organisation, was used for making sandals.

Mr. Amarnath, who led the national-level mega beach clean-up programme organised here on Sunday as part the third G20 Environment and Climate Sustainability Working Group meeting being held in Mumbai, said that the State government has already started taking up several environment-friendly initiatives by organising beach cleaning drives. One such drive in the city organised on August 26 in last year was one of the world’s first ever clean-up endeavours covering a stretch of 30 km with 25,000 volunteers.

“Around 75 tonnes of waste was collected during the programme and the waste was used by Parley to manufacture footwear,” Mr. Amarnath said.

The Minister said that about 70% of the oxygen comes to the earth from the seas. So, it is everyone’s responsibility to keep the beaches and sea clean for future needs.

Speaking about Sunday’s event, Mr. Amarnath said that around 2,500 volunteers, including school and college students, representatives of NGOs, government and private organisations, participated in the beach clean-up organised by stakeholders like the GVMC, Police, Health, Forestry and Pollution Control Board. The beach cleaning campaign being taken up across more than 30 beaches in nine coastal States and four Union Territories. With the support of Indian embassies/consulates, it is also being organised in more than 20 countries. The overall objective of the campaign is to bring in JANBAGIDARI (community participation) among the public at large to achieve the objective of LiFE – Lifestyle for Environment.

The delegates and stakeholders pledged to protect the beaches and keep them clean on the occasion.

Visakhapatnam District Collector A. Mallikarjuna said that the beach clean-up on Sunday was organised as part of the G20 protocols on evironment as well as promoting community involvement and collective action to create awareness on keeping the beaches clean and healthy.