A Lawyer Who Picks Garbage

There is a report by world economic forum that by 2050 there will be more plastic by weight in ocean than the fishes in them.

“Whenever people have chosen life of comfort and convenience, problems have erupted. I have spent my childhood on these beaches and can not see them not in bad state.” Words of a lawyer who became the first Indian to get Champions of Earth Award.

Afroz Shah, a young Indian lawyer from Mumbai, is synonymous with the world’s largest beach clean-up project.

In October 2015, Shah and his neighbor Harbansh Mathur, an 84-year-old who has since passed away, were frustrated with the piles of decomposing waste that had washed up and completely overwhelmed the city’s Versova beach. Determined to do something about it, the pair started cleaning up the beach themselves, one piece of rubbish at a time.

Every weekend since, Shah has inspired volunteers to join him – from slum-dwellers to Bollywood stars, from schoolchildren to politicians. They have been turning up at Versova for what Shah calls "a date with the ocean", but what in reality means labouring shin-deep in rotting garbage under the scorching Indian sun.

So far, the volunteers have collected over 4,000 tons of trash from the 2.5 kilometre beach.

After Versova Beach cleanup, Shah is on his journey to clean Mithi river. Mithi is one of Mumbai's oldest river systems. In a 2015 study, it was revealed that the river was made up of 100% sewage and no clean water. Until the 80s, the toxicity levels of the river was at its bare minimum. However, now, it has been abused and polluted to such an extent that it has transformed into a narrow drain.