1,000 kgs of waste collected from creek in Thane on Day 1

More than two truckloads of waste was collected at the Kopri creek in the creek clean-up drive carried out by the Thane Municipal Corporation along with NGOs on Saturday. The drive will be carried out for 15 days across all the immersion ghats in the city.

Because of the immersions carried out during Ganeshotsav, the creeks in the city are flooded with plastic, thermocol and other non-biodegradable waste. The clean-up drive is thus being undertaken from September 17 to October 2.

“September 17 is International Coastal Clean-up Day. We had received a circular from the central government to take up the activity on the occasion of this day and the Swacha Bharat Abhiyan campaign. We have collected 1,000 kgs of waste from Kopri creek alone on the first day,” said Manisha Pradhan, pollution control officer of TMC.

The waste mostly comprised of plastic, gunny bags, gutka wrappers, thermocol and puja waste. The drive will be carried out at other immersion sites including Kalwa, Parsik, Kharegaon, Mumbra, Kolshet, Gaimukh and Nagla bunder.

The drive was carried out by NGO Rotary and Rotaract club of Thane east along with the Tata Capital company.

“The garbage included huge amounts of plastic and thermocol. Moreover, with the start of Pitrupaksha, people had thrown banana leaves, fruits and eatables in the water. We managed to clean the immersion ghats and the mangrove area,” said Reshma Thanekar, former president of Rotary club. Thane east.