Mumbai: South African cricketer AB de Villiers tried his hands on painting benches made from recycled plastic in Mumbai as he inspired people to reuse and recycle plastic for a clean city. The cricketer also participated in a beach cleanup activity near the Juhu beach and collected around 150 kg of plastic waste.
On Sunday's early morning, Mumbai witnessed well-known South African cricketer AB de Villiers participating in various activities to inspire people to recycle plastic products. Mr. 360, as he is known, teamed up with Project Mumbai, a city-based non-government organisation that organises Plastic Recyclothon aimed at restricting plastic waste to go to landfills and recycle them.
Project Mumbai has successfully restricted over 200 tonnes of plastic from entering landfills. These plastic products are recycled into bricks, benches and other items to be utilised by the people. From the plastic collected during the recent Recyclothon, Project Mumbai turned it into park benches, which were inaugurated by ABD on Sunday.
At the Heritage Garden in Powai, Mr. 360 autographed the benches which will be placed at various public parks of the city. Along with Sudhakar Shinde, the assistant municipal commissioner of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation, the cricketer also coloured the benches and wrote a message 'Together We Can Make A Difference's. These benches will be placed at various public parks of the city to motivate more people to recycle plastic.
Speaking at the event, ABD said, "We cause a lot of pollution in our everyday lives but we should ensure that we take enough measures to curb the pollution. However, Mumbai shows us the way how people can come together to fight plastic pollution and recycle that plastic to be reused by everyone."
Earlier in the morning, ABD also participated in Project Mumbai's Jallosh beach cleaning drive, which has been identified by the Limca Book of Records as the largest citizen driven initiative to clean the water bodies. The cricketer rolled up his sleeves to clean the plastic waste from Juhu beach.
He threw a ABD 360 challenge to all the volunteers where the volunteers were divided into two teams to collect maximum plastic waste within ten minutes. Both the teams collectively gathered around 150 kg of plastic waste, which will be sent for recyclig purpose.
Shishir Joshi, founder and CEO of Project Mumbai, said, "For us at Project Mumbai, inspiring and engaging citizens to make Mumbai a better place to live remain at the forefront. Environment protection and sustainability remain among the top concerns so it has been heartwarming to have AB de Villiers join hands with us to instill a 360 degree energy to plastic recycling."
