A group of Kolkatans went around Rabindra Sarobar on Tuesday morning picking up plastic waste strewn around the park.
The group had six bags full of waste by the time they left.
The “plogging” — jogging, or walking, while picking up trash — scheduled on the morning of Valentine’s Day was a way of expressing their love for nature and raising awareness that if people did not love nature, their own existence would be in crisis.
The plogging started around 7am in front of Safari Park and ended about an hour-and-a-half later.
“We picked up plastic covers, single-use plastic bags, wrappers of chocolates and chips, plastic straws and plastic cups. Six bags became full by the time we ended our work,” said Somini Sen Dua of Mrittika Earthy Talks, an NGO that works on environmental issues.
The organisers said they intended to organise similar walks once every month, each time in a new locality.
Many neighbourhoods across the city would welcome such a citizens’ initiative.
There were about 40 people who participated in the plogging on Tuesday morning.
The group went inside Safari Park and other parts of the Sarobar compound.
Actor-artiste Sujoy Prasad Chatterjee, who was part of Tuesday’s walk, said it was about loving nature back.
“It is also about doing small things that are necessary,” said Chatterjee.
Many of those who walked said it was heartening to see that the volume of plastic being thrown around had gone down from what it used to be a few years ago.
“But we have to get rid of plastic waste altogether,” said a young woman walker who requested not to be named.
The NGO had earlier run awareness programmes in Ballygunge asking dog parents to ensure that they pick up the poop of their pets when they go for walks so it is not left on the pavement for the municipal workers to clean.
“We call the awareness drive Scoop the Poop,” said Dua.
