WORLD’S LARGEST BEACH CLEANUP DRIVE HELD IN VISAKHAPATNAM

The Andhra Pradesh Government has reached a milestone by entering the “Wonder Book of World Records” by organizing the world’s largest beach cleanup drive in Visakhapatnam on August 26, in association with Parley’s for the Ocean. The event witnessed an attendance of over 22,000 people participating in the massive clean-up drive, spanning across a stretch of 28 kms from Gokul beach to Bheemli beach. As part of the largest clean drive, over 76 tonne of plastic was collected.

In a fight against the use of plastic, the CM himself has called for a complete ban on plastic Flexi banners in the State. Andhra Pradesh CM Jagan Mohan Reddy applauded the efforts in protecting flora and fauna of the 2nd largest coastline in the country and also in safeguarding the marine ecosystem of the state. He said it’s every citizen’s and the government’s responsibility to protect the thriving ecosystem.

“We are taking this measure as the first step to ensure a ban on plastic. The Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanam is already following the plastic-free policy in Tirumala and it is yielding good results. Instead of plastic bags, woven cloth bags are used there. We are slowly taking steps across the State as well and we are trying to create awareness among people about using alternative materials instead of plastic. This is to make the State free of plastic pollution by the year 2027,” the CM announced.

The Government of Andhra Pradesh has also entered an MoU with Parleys for the ocean, part of the Global Network, intending to make Andhra Pradesh plastic free by 2027. Calling it an ambitious project, CM Jagan said that no one in the country and the world have achieved such a milestone and it gives the government a great pleasure in ensuring that the state will be made plastic pollution-free by 2027.

The CEO for Parleys for the Ocean, Cyrill Gustch, said, “Plastic is a design failure. There is no closed loop for a faulty material that never dies. Parley for the Oceans therefore calls for a Material Revolution and inviting all their collaborators and partners to take part by implementing the Parley AIR Strategy: Avoid. Intercept. Redesign.”