The members of ‘Bikerstroop Bengaluru’ after the clean-up drive at Shivagange.
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Close to 50 Bengalureans drove to Shivagange in 30 bikes and five cars on Sunday, armed with gloves and garbage bags. Together, they removed over 200 kg of plastic waste from the steep hill, which is a popular trekking destination 50 km from the city.
They are members of ‘Bikerstroop Bengaluru’, a biking club, which hosts such cleanliness and awareness drives every quarter. In a similar drive last year, the members collected close to 180 kg of plastic waste from Shivagange, which is located near Dobbaspet. They also removed over 300 kg of waste from T K Falls near Kanakapura this February.
Harshith B K, founder of the club, says there is an urgent need to create awareness about littering in tourist places.
“For instance, Shivagange has turned so dirty over the years that no matter how many clean-up drives are done, it will still not help clean it up completely. This is the case with many other spots we have visited. There is a need for better waste management,” he explains.
What does his group do with the waste they collect? He says they segregate the waste and hand it over to local gram panchayats or government officials for recycling. In some cases, officials have been supportive and helped them connect with waste recyclers. In other cases, it takes a lot of convincing, which Harshith believes, stems from the lack of infrastructure to dispose of and process the waste in these areas.
He feels clean-up drives by groups like them can be more effective if the local authorities support them.
“Usually, those who travel in cars carry the trash back from trekking sites and discard it the right way.
However, bikers tend to throw garbage bags mid-way because of weight constraints. We want to create awareness among bikers that they should dispose of the waste correctly,” he said.