Navi Mumbai: 'With Them For Them' youth social working group completes 100 weeks of mangrove cleaning

Navi Mumbai: For the last 100 weeks on every Sunday, With Them For Them (WTFT), a social working group of youth has been collecting waste from mangroves from the creeks in Navi Mumbai. The group has already collected over 200 tonnes kg of waste, including plastics, expired medicines, masks, gloves, syringes, and bottles. 

On December 11, Sunday, the group completed 100 weeks of cleaning mangroves by cleaning a creek in Vashi seashore. So far, over 200 tonnes of trash were removed from creeks in Airoli and Vashi by the group.

Every Sunday, the group conducts a clean-up drive in Airoli. However, occasionally, they also conduct drives on Saturdays in Vashi, and Ghansoli, among other places. The mission to make the creek free from waste started with just 10 members, and now the WTFT has 100 volunteers. In addition, many government agencies came forward to support their initiatives. The Solid Waste Management (SWM) department of NMMC provides logistic support to carry the collected trash to dumping yards.

Ashish Sawant, the founder of WTFT said, “During 100 weeks of journey, the team WTFT has been holding mangrove clean-ups drive in different parts of Navi Mumbai on every Sunday without any pause,” said Sawant, adding that the team collaborated with various schools, colleges, NSS units, and government agencies like Maharashtra Forest Department, Coastal and Marine Biodiversity Centre (CMBDC) and Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation.

At present, Sawant is travelling for his studies but the team that he has built is moving ahead with the mission. Over the phone, Sawant appreciated the team for continuing the mission and those who actively participated during the cleanliness drive. The team has cleared more than 200 tons of trash.

Mantesh Koli, another member of WTFT says that youngsters from Kalyan, Bhinwandi and other places call us that want to join the drive and contribute for environmental protection.

For almost two years, these youngsters, known as mangrove soldiers, say that the work is a challenging one, and without support from people, it’s not easy to keep it clean. 

Initially, the social group used to directly dump the waste collected from mangroves into NMMC waste collection vehicles. However, now they segregate and make use of the waste. “We use the plastic bottles collected from mangroves for plantation and the beer bottles for other decorations,” said Sawant.