Mumbaikars kick off “Clean Shores” Drive at Versova Beach

 by Shrutee K/DNS

Mumbai, May 27, 2018: Mumbaikars gathered to join the beach clean-up drive, led by Afroz Shah, winner of the Champion of the Earth award, at Versova beach. Present to support the cause were Erik Solheim, United Nations Under-Secretary-General and Head of UN Environment and Aditya Thackeray, Leader and Chairperson of the Shiv Sena and President of Yuva Sena. United Way Mumbai, the community impact partner, along with Coca-Cola India joined the movement by the citizens of Mumbai and announced the symbolic adoption of four high footfall beaches in Mumbai including Versova.

‘Clean Shores Mumbai’ is a special community impact initiative which aims at enhancing the state of overall cleanliness of the city beaches and contribute towards mitigation of marine pollution and conservation of marine ecosystem through strategic and sustained interventions enabled by public-private partnership. By supporting this program, United Way Mumbai and Coca-Cola India will help improve local collection of waste by setting up infrastructure for cleanliness, raise consumer awareness and support adoption of improved waste management practices. 

The event received support from the Government of Maharashtra and the Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai. Almost 5,000 volunteers including corporate employees, government officials, citizen volunteers and students joined the beach clean-up drive. Commenting on the occasion, Afroz Shah, said, “The problem of marine debris is huge and is not only confronting Mumbai but the entire humanity. All stakeholders i.e. government, citizens, plastic manufacturers, consumers of plastic and users of plastic will have to join hands to tackle the problem of marine debris. No one organization or individual can do enough—concerted, collaborative, systematic, sincere and persistent efforts will yield the desired results of a clean and healthy ocean. Environmental protection should not be an event. Coca-Cola and United way’s involvement in these efforts will give impetus to handle the problem of marine litter.” Speaking on the occasion, Mr. Ishteyaque Amjad, Vice-President, Public Affairs and Communications, Coca-Cola India and South West Asia, said, “The Coca-Cola Company has pledged to collect and recycle the equivalent of 100% of its packaging by 2030. We believe that this goal can be achieved by adopting a collaborative approach and engaging with the Government and communities. The adoption of four beaches in Mumbai in collaboration with United Way Mumbai reaffirms our long-term commitment to develop capacity, educate communities, and encourage sustainable waste management. Very recently our bottling partner Hindustan Coca-Cola Beverages Pvt. Ltd. launched a circular waste segregation project in 10 wards of Mumbai.”

Mrs. Jayanti Shukla, Chief Executive Officer, United Way Mumbai, added, “India is addressing plastic pollution this World Environment Day. We’re playing our part by offering solutions to address plastic waste and marine littering problems at Mumbai beaches through our tried and tested Collective Community Impact model. Sustainable solutions to global waste problems can be achieved through collaboration between Government, industry, and communities. Each and every one of us has a role to play in keeping this planet habitable and free of litter.”

United Way Mumbai and Coca-Cola have also supported and joined Afroz Shah on pilot basis for cleaning up the marine debris by a team of divers, who have cleaned the garbage from the deep ocean for four consecutive days beginning 24^th May to 27^th May.

The scope of the long-term project under ‘Clean Shores’ includes: Adoption of four beaches in Mumbai including Versova, The long-term adoption of the beaches will focus on interventions such as:

Regular cleaning of the garbage on the beaches and deep sea

Sprucing up the aesthetics of the beaches so locals and tourists are encouraged to maintain and support the cleanliness of the beaches

Provisioning of additional infrastructure to complement better waste management

Adopting responsible waste management practices such as segregation and recycling of the recyclable waste collected on the beach

Education and sensitization of neighbouring communities and developing a sense of ownership among the local stakeholders

Formation of Clean Beach Task Forces to ensure ownership among the neighbouring communities

About United Way Mumbai

United Way Mumbai is a part of the 130 years old United Way movement engaged in nearly 1800 communities, spanning 41 countries across the world. Our mission is to improve lives by mobilizing the caring power of communities to advance the common good. We work closely with a network of 400+ NGOs and a large number of corporates for their CSR programmes, workplace giving campaigns and other events. Our flagship programmes have been largely in the areas of civic awareness, health, safety and greening. In addition to this, we have designed and facilitated large scale interventions in the areas of education, nutrition and sanitation in urban and rural communities.  www.unitedwaymumbai.org.

About Coca-Cola India 

Coca-Cola in India is one of the country’s leading beverage companies, offering a range of healthy, safe, high quality, refreshing beverage options to consumers. Since its re-entry in 1993, the company has been refreshing consumers with its beverage products – Coca- Cola, Coca-Cola Zero, Diet Coke, Thums Up, Thums Up Charged, Fanta, Fanta Green Mango, Limca, Sprite, Sprite Zero, Maaza, VIO flavoured milk ‘Almond Delight’ and ‘Kesar Delight’, Minute Maid range of juices, FUZE tea, Georgia and Georgia gold range of hot and cold tea and coffee options, Aquarius, Schweppes, SmartWater, Kinley and Bonaqua packaged drinking water and Kinley Club Soda. The Company along with its owned bottling operation and other bottling partners, through a strong network of over 2.6 million retail outlets, touches the lives of millions of consumers, at a rate of more than 500 servings per second. Its brands are some of the most preferred and most sold beverages in the country – Thums Up and Sprite – being the top two selling sparkling beverages.

The Coca-Cola India system provides direct employment to 25,000 people and indirect employment to more than 150,000 people. The Coca-Cola system in India is contributing in its own small way to building sustainable communities through community initiatives like Support My School, VEER, Parivartan and Unnati and by reducing its own environmental footprint. For further information on the company's India operations and its products, please visit www.coca-colaindia.com.