Plastic-Free Madh : An Initiative for Plastic free Island in Mumbai

'Plastic Free Madh’ a project aimed at making plastic free Madh, an island village in Mumbai suburb was started in the last week of January 2019. The project started with a lot of uncertainties and doubts is now showing its positive impact. The project was initiated by two young Piramal Fellows Simran Sharma and Vaibhav Patel. 

Founded on the seven Islands, the city of Mumbai has been heavily known for its coastal tourism and pisciculture. Madh Island is one such location which has gained tourism population. However, the original occupants of the land are the Kohlis, which are the oldest fishing community of Maharashtra. Madh Island is heavily guarded by the Kohli Community with a population of 45,000 people as it is the last bastion. The primary occupation of the community is the fishery business. But in recent times, their business has been disturbed because of the immense amount of plastic in the sea. Irregular supply of fish with an investment of Rs. 100,000 in the daily process has made it difficult for the local fishermen to make the ends meet. 

Piramal fellows, Local People, BMC staff and officials after the Sunday Cleanliness drive at Madh

Since 2017, I have been working in the Madh jetty area of Madh Island. The journey to Madh Island can be stressful or adventurous, either way, you can take it. Madh Island is no more an island but a neglected peninsula, dropping off Mumbai’s western coastline.

 Looking at this problem after several interactions with the fishermen, I designed a prototype initiative called “PLASTIC FREE MADH” which aimed to reduce the usage of plastic by the local residents of the Madh area. Although legislation has been passed banning the usage of plastic, it is ineffective until the vicious cycle of demand and supply is dissolved. Aiming at this, my colleague and I collaborated with local corporates and five heads of the fishermen communities for the production and distribution of 1000 cotton bags in the area. The project also had another tangent when we started off with beach clean-up drives for the sullied beach ‘Vater Pada’ in Madh. We piloted beach clean-up every weekend starting from 10^th February with a bandwidth of 35-40 local people as the second step towards creating awareness amongst them. Clean up drives have been arranged in collaboration with the solid waste department of the BMC and Mr Afroz shah- UN environment minister for the oceans. Together we did several community visits to understand the usage of plastic by the community people and did surveys of 100 local shopkeepers. Through the survey of the shopkeepers, I analysed that plastic is majorly used to buy dairy products.

Initially, we aimed at replacing single-use plastic bags into cotton bags from the area, gradually we started a drive for cleaning the existing plastics in the area. Surveying 115 shops and households in the area over plastic usage, popular vote of residents of the area was to replace plastic bags with cotton.  We started a campaign with the cleaning of Vatarpada near Madh church with the support of local people and BMC, a small port area where fishing boats are rested. 

Simran along with local volunteer and BMC staff is involved in the cleanliness drive

Vatarpada was filled with tons of plastics when we first visited the space. In the last one and a half month, we have been cleaning the area with the help of solid waste management dept of BMC and local leaders and residents of Madh. Every Sunday morning we clean the area, significant change can be seen as compared the first day, when we started. With every week going, the numbers of people joining us for the drive is on increase.

Phase 1 of the production of cotton bags has been completed as the local self-help groups have tailored into the making of the cotton bag. The costs have been incurred by the local corporation for the raw material and the daily wages of the workers. Phase 2 of the distribution of the cotton bags will be completed by the month end of April. We have also completed fifteen beach clean-up drives with around 1000 kg of garbage being removed from the beach. The aim of beach cleanups is not to clean the beaches but to create a sense of responsibility amongst the local residents the need for better spaces and showcase the damage done by plastic to the oceans.

Through this project, we have managed to create ownership amidst the youths and the local leaders of the communities and also addressing the pressing issue of marine life degradation and loss of livelihood through the usage of plastic. This initiative motivated the local political leaders to find alternative solutions by producing cotton bags to make Madh a plastic-free region.

Post our pilot initiative, we plan to expand this project in other communities adjoining the coastal lines of Mumbai which have been heavily contaminated by plastic usage. 

We find that the problem caused due to plastic is not limited only to the untidy beaches but now it started haunting the fisheries in the suburbs. 

We believe beach cleaning is not about clean beaches, as the harm was done so far needs a larger solution to tackle the problem. We wanted to create a sense of responsibility among the people living in the area, that space belongs to them, they should be taking care of it. Quality of fishes in the sea is degrading every single day, and the sole source of livelihood for people in Madh is fishing, their livelihood is at stake.  By now around  2000kg of garbage has been cleaned with the help of BMC workers, community leaders and residents of the community.

BMC staff had supported with its full potential to the campaign "Plastic-free Madh"

 Courtesy: 

Vaibhav Patel & Simran Sharma 
 Gandhi Fellow; B-10; Mumbai