Progress report for
Beach Cleanup
Achievement at a glance
Our cleanups were conducted on a weekly basis between April 2018 and August 2019, when we collected roughly 15 kilograms of waste on average (all items combined) each time. For those 64 weeks, this amounts to at least 960 kilograms of waste that were collected on the Pondicherry coastline. Over time, some local volunteers joined us regularly and also brought in further support sometimes. By sharing our efforts through our social media channels, we increased the number of our followers and can now reach out to more than 500 people on Instagram and more than 400 people on Facebook. This provides a larger platform to inform people about a variety of marine conservation issues. Participating in beach cleanups has not only raised awareness among the local population and tourists, but also among the Temple Adventure Dive Resort staff, who would join us every week. Eventually, we also connected and reached out to other cleanup initiatives that are regularly taking place in Pondicherry. The result of this was the creation of a shared Whatsapp group and several joint activities in summer 2019.Challenges faced in implementation
Originally, we had planned to segregate the waste we collected, on one hand to record the quantities of each type and assess which waste is the most problematic in our setting. Another motivation was to have as many items as possible recycled by the municipality. After a while, however, we learned that the municipality does not discriminate between recycables and non-recycables, but combines all of our trash bags into the same transportation container, and consequently into the same waste plant or landfill. Additionally, our cleanups mostly take place on a quite challenging terrain, large and slippery rocks (instead of a smooth, sandy surface). Not only does this mean that we have to be extremely cautious during collection, we also noticed how many items that might have once been recycables had been stuck between the rock for extended time periods and thus been exposed to strong tides and degradation. Furthermore, despite detailed briefings, not all volunteers would fully understand how to segregate waste items properly, rendering this process useless. Thus, for all these reasons, we decided to stop segregating waste, and to instead mix all the items in the same bags, subsequently counting the overall quantity of waste collected.Another issue we faced is the fact that none of the formerly active Temple Reef Foundation members are currently residing in Pondicherry, which makes a consistent commitment to weekly beach cleanups extremely challenging. This is, however, only a temporary situation.
Beneficiaries
The main beneficiary of our activities is the local community in Pondicherry. Removing waste from a public space such as the beach promenade improves its overall appearance. As Pondicherry is a common tourist destination in India, contributing to a less polluted coastline can support the local tourism industry. Furthermore, we do not only raise awareness amongst our volunteers but always try to reach out to people walking by and educate them about (plastic) pollution and its impacts on our oceans. We especially encourage littering individuals to rethink their actions and use a dustbin.
Our actions further benefit other local initiatives, as we have made efforts to reach out and collaborate. This means that we support each other by attending each others cleanup activities or by spreading the word about less known initiatives through our social media channels.
Another beneficiary is Temple Adventures Dive Resort, which can improve its image as an environmentally conscious operation and even inform more potential customers about scuba diving opportunities in Pondicherry, as they help out during cleanups.
Last but not least, the main beneficiary is the local coastal ecosystem, as our cleanups prevent waste from entering the ocean and may sensitize more people about marine conservation issues in general.