Kerala launches ‘beat plastic’ drive to keep beaches clean

Minister Riyas joins campaign at Kovalam

Trivandrum / June 5, 2023

Thiruvananthapuram, June 05: In a major initiative to keep Kerala’s panoramic beaches clean and green, the State Tourism Department today launched the ‘Beat Plastic Pollution’ campaign as a collaborative movement of tourism sector stakeholders and local community, coinciding with the World Environment Day.

Minister for Tourism and Public Works, Shri PA Mohamed Riyas, inaugurated the mega beach clean-up and awareness campaign at the famed Kovalam Hawa Beach near the state capital. The programme was organised by Responsible Tourism Mission (RT Mission) in association with District Tourism Promotion Council (DTPC) and Tourism Club.

Joining the people who volunteered to take part in the drive, Shri Riyas said everybody is duty-bound to keep the tourism centres in the state clean and the government has taken up massive campaigns against use of plastics. 

Noting that ‘Tourism and Green Investments’ is the slogan of World Tourism Day 2023, he said tourism and green initiatives complement each other as they reflect the aim of current world. 

Shri Riyas said Kovalam is an important global tourist destination and there won’t be any gaps in the cleaning drive.  

“As an alternative to plastics, RT Mission and other agencies are giving training to local community for making paper bags and cloth bags. It will also generate income for local people,” he said. 

Shri Riyas exuded confidence that tourism stakeholders and entrepreneurs will fully avoid plastics and rely on locally-made products as alternatives and set an example for the world.

The Minister also launched the distribution of 1,000 cloth bags made under the ‘Smarter Choice of Greener Tomorrow’ campaign by RT Mission through its ‘Clean Kerala Initiative.’

State Co-ordinator, RT Mission, Shri K Rupeshkumar, welcomed the gathering.

 ‘Discard plastic, guard Kerala’s beauty’ is the theme of the campaign, which saw people gathering in large numbers for cleaning up the famed beach that marked Kerala prominently on world tourism map.

Tourism Joint Director Shri Abhilash TG; Ward Councillor Shri Nizam; Shri Baby Mathew, President, Kerala Travel Mart Society (KTM); KHRA State Secretary Shri Veerabhadran; SKHF Secretary Shri Manoj Babu; DTPC Executive Member Shri Venganoor Bright; and Kovalam Tourism Protection Council office bearers Shri TN Suresh, Shri Viswanathan; Shri YK Shaji were also present.