Union Minister for Environment, Forest and Climate Change Bhupender Yadav will participate in the Beach Clean-Up Campaign on Saturday at Juhu Beach in Mumbai.

This campaign is being organised in collaboration with the Ministry of Earth Sciences and the state government. The campaign will be exercised at over 100 beaches across coastal states/UTs, the Ministry said on Friday.

The Ministry launched a Beach Cleaning Drive and introduced the campaign #IamSavingMyBeach on World Environment Day 2018 with the theme “Beat Plastic”.

Since 2018, it has regularly organised beach cleaning activities across all coastal states/Union Territories in collaboration with all coastal states and UTs governments.

The International Coastal Clean-up Day (ICCD) is observed annually on the third Saturday of September. The day aims to inspire people to clean up beaches, raise awareness about the importance of preserving and protecting the world’s oceans and waterways, and address the issue of marine trash.

In 2021, the Ministry organized beach cleaning activities at all 10 Blue Flag Certified Beaches as part of the 75th Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav celebrations. In 2022, the MoEFCC, in collaboration with the Ministry of Earth Sciences, conducted a beach cleaning initiative under the “Swachh Sagar, Surakshit Sagar/Clean Coast Safe Sea” campaign in celebration of International Coastal Clean-up Day (ICCD).

The campaign spanned over 75 days across 75 beaches, where more than 15,000 volunteers collected over 1,500 tons of garbage and waste along the Indian coastline.

In 2023, under its G20 Presidency, the Ministry launched the Janbhagidari movement to enhance community participation and raise awareness about the sensitivity of ocean and coastal pollution. This initiative focuses on beach cleaning efforts across all coastal states and union territories.

The Mega beach cleaning event was held at Juhu Beach in Mumbai on May 21, 2023, wherein more than 1000 participants (including G20 delegates) having representation of local dignitaries (public representatives), community, NGOs, NCC, NSS, Coast Guards, Corporations, State and Central Government officials participated. A national level Inter-School painting competition for school students of classes 8 to 12 was organised wherein more than 5900 students participated.

In this drive at Juhu Beach, nearly 850 kg of litter, consisting of around 500 kg of plastics and other litter, including single-use plastics and food wrappers, were collected. In India, about 17392 volunteers participated spread across 35 beaches in all coastal states/UTs including Juhu Beach in Mumbai, and about 35243 Kg trash collected. Out of which 25 per cent consisted of plastic, followed by glass 11 per cent.