A relentless pursuit to implement sustainable living

A 24-year-old an environmentalist and a social activist is promoting the use of eco-bricks to stop 2,000 tonnes of plastic waste going to landfills. Vivek Gurav, who was associated with various clean-up drives ever since he was a teenager came up with the idea of plogging, and along with his friends has been spending weekends picking up trash from the city.

Plogging, is a concept that was originally introduced in Sweden, where people pick up trash while jogging. Initially, it was Gurav and few friends who were involved in the cleanup drives. But as the word spread and people saw their work, more and more joined in, making it a mass movement. In September 2019 Gurav founded Pune Ploggers, and in the nearly six months they have completed 100 Plogging Drive, which was on January 26.

Speaking to Young Hans Vivek said "The only reason I had started Pune Ploggers was to bring the youth together for a simple cause for cleaning up the city and raising awareness about not littering in public. We are planning to take a step ahead and address the trash issue at source. The major problem I have seen while picking trash was due to unsegregated household waste dumped in open.

I have started conducting waste management workshops for communities, societies and residential corps to promote plastic reuse and collection for recycling. Wet waste to compost is another initiative we have started in the Covid-19 lockdown. Also we are expanding to multiple cities with plogging communities being setup in Mumbai, Delhi, Nashik, Chennai and Bangalore."

Around 400 volunteers including college students and techies are working on this project. "We have modified the purpose and overall design of eco-bricks by innovating an interlocking mechanism to avoid the use of cement or any other bonding material in these crafting that might render all the plastic unworthy of future recycling." he adds.

When asked how does he organise plogging, Vivek said "We fix the spots for upcoming plogging runs in advance and create events on our social media handles. People who wish to join can register or join us directly on spot.

We try to cover different areas in the city every week to reach out to a larger audience. I personally travel to places where people need a basic orientation to start a plogging movement on their own. We have teams in different cities like Dehradun, Mumbai, and Kolhapur. We are connecting ploggers from different cities now and are trying to come up with simultaneous Plogging Runs to raise awareness about health and plastic pollution crisis. We usually see around 20-50 participants daily."

With an aim to change people's mindset, Vivek himself has undertaken a 30-Day plogging challenge, along with his friends, and the city is on a roll, actively participating in this challenge to achieve fitness and hygiene goals with an environmentalist mindset.

"Youth should start thinking and implementing sustainable living because we can see the use of single use plastic is increasing rather than decreasing ,we see youth raising their voice but yet we don't see practical solutions coming out" Vivek adds.

Initiatives during pandemic

With the lockdown and social distancing norms in place due to corona virus pandemic, a group of over 400 volunteers who would meet up on every weekend for cleanliness drives in sever parts of the city, have decided to channel their energies in other ways to help society.

Pune Ploggers had installed 'trash banks' in different societies where people can deposit any household items which they don't use for a long time. People's reaction towards trash banks is quite positive and these waste materials from trash banks are redecorated and used as a decor or any useful item so that those waste don't end up in trash. "We think of the second life of the product so that we can use it as much as possible as we can" says Vivek Gurav

They have also done a mass awareness programme on single use of masks, about PPE kits. So pune ploggers have suggested to go with the sustainable way like all the things made of cloth so that no plastic masks go into the trash which further will increase the spread of diseases. There were few NGOs who were manufacturing cloth masks, we have connected to the manufactures to increase sustainable products in people's life during covid19 pandemic.

One lakh eco-bricks initiative

Eco-bricks are plastic bottles stuffed with plastic covers and material of plastic to set the volume and strength to utilise them as usual clay bricks in construction. Daily use gadgets, garden areas, furniture, art installations, planters, and much more can be built and fabricated using these eco-friendly bricks.

Plastic bottle + plastic filling = eco-brick. These eco bricks will be used to make stools, shelves, tables for orphanages and few slums. These can be converted into furniture items.

'One Lakh Eco-Bricks' is a measurable goal the team has set. Mumbai, Pune, Chennai and Bangalore citizens have started making eco-bricks and Pune Ploggers has a mission to collect one lakh eco-bricks till December 2020. This initiative will prevent 90,000 tonnes of plastic going into landfills." I always feel the need to work on the ground instead of just blaming the system and government through social media. Change needs participation and I'm trying to be the change maker", says eco-warrior Vivek

Achievements

Their efforts were recognised by the Embassy of Sweden in India, Mann Ki Baat Team, Pune Municipal Corporation, All India Radio and plans are afoot to collaborate with Government of India.

Vivek Gurav has represented India at the MYWorld2030 Asia-Pacific Advocacy Programme, which is an initiative led by UNDP Bangkok Regional Hub, and United Nations SDG Action Campaign. He has reached out to people creating awareness about Climate Action, and Sustainable Development Goals, and appealed to them, to submit the MyWorld Survey being conducted by the UN. He was awarded the REX Karmaveer Chakra Award 2019, and the Indian Youth Award 2019, for his active contributions to different social issues.