Join Sunday's drive to clean up city

Join Sunday's drive to clean up city

After the success of August 15 event, NGO plans its second campaign

While lifting garbage littering the streets, activists will speak on waste management

MK Madhusoodan. Bangalore



A group of citizens, under the banner of Anonymous Indian, will begin the second round of their campaign to clean up Bangalore on Sunday.
In the process, they want to create awareness among the public to dispose of waste in a responsible manner.
"The first round of our clean up drive on August 15 drew about 4,700 volunteers," said the founders of the initiative, Myriam Shankar and her husband Ajesh Kumar.
"We believe that the spirit of wanting to do something good for the city is very much alive in Bangalore. This was evident from the enthusiastic response the programme received through online participation, sign ups on their website and social networking sites like Facebook as well as the student community which took part in full force. In a single day, they collected thousands of garbage bags which were handed over to the BBMP," the couple said.
During the second phase of their campaign, Anonymous Indian will try to spread awareness about reducing waste that is generated in the city. "It is our vision to make every household a zero-waste household. About 60% of the garbage generated in our homes is organic waste that can be made into compost, instead of travelling to the landfills outside the city", Myriam, the programme manager, said.
The NGO partners with Daily Dump in educating people about how to compost vegetable waste within their homes and apartments. This compost can then be used to enrich the soil with nutrients to grow beautiful gardens.
Another NGO that is associated with the Clean Up Bangalore Drive is Saahas. They educate and assist people in waste management by collecting, segregating and recycling waste like paper, plastic, glass and e-waste, and working with individual households and apartment complexes.
At the same time, individual coordinators as well as Youth for Seva and the Rotary Club are acting as coordinators on the ground, taking the responsibility to clean up the neighbourhoods of Marathalli, Katriguppe, Jayanagar, Gandhi Bazaar, Vijayanagar, Banashankari, Ejipura, HSR Layout, GM Palya and Malleswaram.
On Sunday, volunteers will go out to the streets with gloves, brooms, and dust pans to collect garbage. Other volunteers will talk to citizens about waste management. All waste collected will be segregated and recycled.
After the event, the coordinators will form small teams to maintain a 'litter watch'. Interested citizens can sign up at www.cbengaluru.com to register and participate in the drive.