RETHINK TRASH – Mission Arugam Bay Ashamed To Be Alarmed
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“Rethink Trash – Mission Arugambay”; a cleaning campaign chaired by Rtr. Shalini Jayasooriya took place in the Panama Jungle and the East coasts of Sri Lanka on the 31st of August and 01st of September 2019 respectively.
The Panama jungle clean-up was initiated by “Elephants Not Plastic” organisation in collaboration with Rotaract Club of SLIIT, Sri Lankan Army, and Arugam Bay Development Forum with the objective of saving wildlife. We, the Rotaract Club of Sri Lanka Institute of Information Technology (SLIIT) – led by Rtr. Duleesha Waidyarathne – had an immense pleasure in joining hands with Mr. Jirka Novak to aid him with his charismatic campaign.
A group of 40 enthusiastic and vibrant undergraduates of the Rotaract Club of SLIIT embarked on their mission in saving wildlife and ecosystems. We placed our footprints there at dawn on the 31st and started the mission by splitting into 3 groups along with a crew member of “Elephants Not Plastic” who briefed us on the cleaning process and drove us to the affected locations.
The groups included a significant number of nature loving tourists. One group cleaned the road sides connecting to Arugam Bay while the other two groups cleaned up the jungles. We collected the trash by segregating them in the terms of general waste, plastic bottles, glass and cans.
The Sri Lankan Navy and Army held up their immeasurable support by providing us with tractors, food and other forms of support when needed. By the end of Day 1 we were able to collect piles of trash which was concentrated with plastic bottles, glass bottles, straws, beer cans and diapers, but what disappointed us more was to realise we were not even half done by the end of the first day.
The SLIIT Rotaractors started off the second day by cleaning up the beaches of Arugam Bay, in the meantime the other team continued cleaning the jungles while two of our Rotaractors assisted them on the clean-up process. By the end of the day we drove ourselves to “Waste less Arugam Bay”- with the heaps of segregated trash that we had collected at the beach.
“Waste Less Arugam Bay” is a company, initiated by Mr. Henrik Konzok 7 years ago with the urge of reducing the amount of plastic waste in Arugam Bay by offering holistic solutions to plastic problem. He demonstrated us on how plastics, glasses and cans are crushed and how they recycle them to produce goods like polyester yarn, t-shirts, surf board wax combs etc. It was an eye opener for us when Mr. Henry stated that in Arugam Bay alone nearly 25,000 plastic bottles are disposed per day during the season, that is equivalent to 750,000 plastic bottles per month which is catastrophic.
“What is Sri Lanka famous for? Beaches. But then there are other countries which offer the same thing. To make Sri Lanka stand out from the lot, to make it a green tourist destination; we have to work towards making it a ZERO WASTE nation.” – Mr. Henrik Konzok
I was alarmed of the consequence of improper waste management, yet I was ashamed that it took a foreigner to make us realise this. – I was ashamed to be alarmed.
The overall experience of this campaign was gratifying as we were able to do something to our motherland yet on the other hand we were drowned in utter disappointment and shame. It was disheartening to realise how ignorant, careless and selfish we Sri Lankans are turning out to be with our garbage. We as Sri Lankans can never proudly call ourselves as Sri Lankans unless we unite and start reforming ourselves in building an Eco-Friendly Nation together.
By Rtr. Akaam Zain