As individuals, they work as tourism entrepreneur, schoolteacher, yoga trainer, college clerk, and restaurateur, but three times a week the quintet join hands to do ‘dirty work’ to keep beaches and backwaters waste-free.
Edison Antony, Nebin Cheriyan, Maiju Felix, Thomas Antony, and Nithin Joseph from Mararikulam in Alappuzha have not taken a weekend off for quite a while as they dedicate themselves to picking up trash from beaches in the region. Besides Saturday and Sunday, the group dubbed ‘Opulence in Action’ collects garbage every Tuesday.
Mr. Edison who is in the tourism business started devoting time to waste collection in 2019. At first, it was just him and a friend. “The issue of floating garbage such as bottles, broken plastic and other items on Alappuzha backwaters was brought to my attention by foreign tourists. Some of these visitors, after a canoe or kayak trip to Kuttanad , expressed annoyance at seeing a huge amount of trash floating on the water. After a few individual efforts, occasional cleaning of places frequented by paddlers was carried out with the help of the local workforce. Sometimes tourists also joined us,” says Mr. Edison.
