Ripudaman Bevli, began plogging seven years ago. Over the years, he has managed to make act of picking up litter while jogging cool, and even inspiring. “When you bend down to pick up somebody’s litter, you will stop littering. Places automatically become clean. This is the impact we are creating,” says Delhi-based Ripudaman.
During a visit to Coimbatore in October, where he went plogging with the residents, he showed everyone the ‘trash workout’ where children and their parents do a bunch of exercises while learning to manage, segregate and reduce waste. “The response was amazing,” he said, adding, I hope it becomes a chain of change and not stop as a one-day activity. It is also about managing our waste, how we segregate, reduce, refuse and reuse. It should lead to a circular economy where no waste is wasted.”
When Ripudaman started, he had two objectives — to fight the garbage crisis and stay fit. To achieve this across cities, he worked with government. “We were running and picking up litter. This became an eco-fitness activity. Last year, we cleaned up beaches across Chennai and worked with the Tamil Nadu government for the International Coastal Clean-Up Day.”
He says he would now like Indians to participate in #PlasticUpvaas, a social media challenge. “Disposables and single-use items completely overwhelm our lives, so we give people a mantra of #PlasticUpvaas to start with the prohibition of one single-use plastic item, and gradually decrease their use,” he says. To mobilise people, he plans to hold a Plastic Upvaas Yatra, a run from Delhi to Mumbai.
According to this marathon runner and environmentalist, India generates a staggering 26,000 tonnes of solid waste every day and almost 50% never gets collected. Eventually, it litters streets, and chokes up drains, and streams. “We have collected plastic wrappers, single-use plastic products, Styrofoam, paper, cardboards, glass, and other non-biodegradable items during the plog runs,” he says.
His first victory, he recalls, is when a bunch of school children in Delhi turned change makers at a neighbourhood vegetable mandi. “The kids would speak to the shopkeepers and customers about the ill-effects of plastics. In three months, all shopkeepers put big banners saying they don’t have polythene bags, encouraging customers to bring cloth bags,” says the 35-year-old plogger who has organised clean up drives in more than 100 cities till now.
