Nobody likes dirty beach, not even marine life.
Among the animals most threatened by this pollution are turtles, often caught by deception in nets searching for shrimp or harmed due to the large amount of plastic in the seas. If life was not easy for these animals, the action of an environmentalist is changing this scenario and brought back the turtles to the beach of Versova in Mumbai (India).
The world's largest clean-up effort was organized by attorney Afroz Shah. For 85 weeks, he was responsible for removing 5 million pounds of plastic from the beach with the help of several volunteers.
In just over a year, the coast of the beach that looked like a real open-air dump turned into a beautiful beach. The change was not felt by humans alone: after 20 years, turtles returned to the site to make their nests.
According to the Guardian newspaper, at least 80 turtle hatchlings were seen on the way to the sea at Versova. A group of volunteers, including Afroz himself, protected the litter from being the victims of other animals during this journey.
The impacts that a cleaning effort can have in a natural environment are numerous. Rather than just observing, a good alternative is to organize your own effort. Between September 16 and 24, the UN Environment Week promotes Clean Seas. To help people interested in organizing their own group, the organization has launched a free booklet available online.
Among the indications are the use of returnable materials in the collection instead of plastic bags, as well as the direct contact with cooperatives of garbage collectors, seeking to ensure that collected waste will receive the appropriate treatment. After all, it's no use picking up litter from the beach if it's not the right destination, right?
