Plaguing the earth’s habitable surface, the menace of plastic waste has spread to the depths of oceans as well. To rectify the situation and save the marine life from plastic pollution, a group of scuba divers in Vizag has been collecting plastic waste from the ocean and has removed almost 5,000 kg of waste so far.
The group of divers removes plastic waste from sea bed / Image: Platypus Escapes
Subhash Chandran runs a recreational scuba diving venture called Platypus Escapes from Rushikonda, where he works as a scuba diving instructor. During his diving sessions, he discovered that there was a huge amount of waste lying at the bottom of the sea. The plastic waste made the swimming a dreadful experience, so he decided to clean the sea bed along with a friend.
The group has removed around 5,000 kg of waste from the ocean / Image: Platypus Escapes
On the first day, they removed around 400 to 500 kg of plastic from the waters. Since then, Subhash and four other divers have made 16 such rounds, removing nearly 5 tons of wet plastic and cloth scraps from the ocean. They have been working with minimum diving equipment as the proper scuba diving gear is quite expensive.
Divers collect the garbage in netted bags / Image: Platypus Escapes
The group starts removing the waste from 6:30 AM at Rushikonda beach in Vizag and works for few hours before going to their jobs. Mostly wrappers of food items and cloth scraps have been recovered from the sea bed.
The divers take netted bags along with them that they use underwater to collect the garbage. Once around 70-80 kg of plastic is collected, they swim ashore to leave it there and go back for another round. The collected trash is then moved to the Greater Vishakhapatnam Municipal Corporation dumpsters.
Collected trash is dumped in the municipal dumpsters / Image: Platypus Escapes
The members of the group have been spreading awareness and asking for volunteers. According to Subhash, efficient swimmers and non-swimmer volunteers can also help in collecting and segregating the waste.
It will take at least 2-3 months to clean the Rushikonda beach alone, after which the group plans to continue with its mission further along the coastline. The group wants to clean the maximum area before the seasonal change turns the sea rough and waters dark.
As much as this initiative is admirable, the danger of plastic pollution will persist as long as people keep dumping garbage in the ocean.
Via: The News Minute