The world was a happy place- people, flora, and fauna co-existing in peace for a long time until humans ate from the tree of knowledge only to unlock a demon from its case.

Today the demon roams around the earth freely, choking the life out of every living being on this planet. And as we all know that demon is plastic waste. Waste that humans, irresponsible humans leave out in the open only to put a strain on the beauty and dangerously hampering the health of our Mother Earth.

Jamshedpur is a clean, green, and planned city but there are still many public places which face the issue of cleanliness, mainly because there is a problem with people’s mindset. People do not believe in throwing garbage in dustbins. After using a public place people leave behind a lot of waste in the open which as a result destroys the beauty of the recreational spots in our city.

There is also a not enough dustbins in a lot of public spots which in turn gives rise to pile up of waste out in the open, this is highly unhygienic and unhealthy for the environment as well as us.

It is high time people start bringing about a change in their mindset and think a hundred times before they throw a piece of garbage out in the open and not in dustbins.

We at Green Caps are addressing this issue and we are doing so by not only talking but also acting to solve this issue. We are a group of people working towards a mission to clean our city- our home.

It started with four friends visiting Dimna and seeing how the city's water reserve and the most beautiful tourist place had become almost a dumpster. With one deciding he would clean the place and the one other friend saying he would help the journey started. In 4 weeks, the two became a team of 30 who were ready to put all the time and effort required to get the place clean and green again.

It wasn't an easy task. Cleaning the same place one day to only find it littered with garbage the next morning. But the work kept going and we decided to come up with a sustainable solution for it. Because 30 people can clean the whole place in a matter of a week or maybe a month. But to keep it clean forever we needed the support of everyone from the city.

We got in touch with JUSCO who are responsible for the area and got permanent dustbins placed. And created a system of timely emptying of it by monitoring and informing the cleaning department. We also gave small biodegradable garbage bags to the small hawkers who are present there regularly. Whenever someone comes for a picnic or to hang out there can get those bags at Rs 2 each and morally dispose of their garbage in the dustbin.

We plan to place small banners and posters about how to segregate the garbage, usage of the dustbin, where to call if the dustbin is full, and plant more trees around that will add to the greenery of the whole place.

But the idea to make it sustainable needs support of everyone that is where we need all the means possible to spread awareness about the work going on here and what can be done to keep it going.

We also plan to restart the park in Dimna with a green gym. Placing recycled water tanks as a dustbin, using biodegradable bags, making sure to segregate garbage at source are some of the methods we wish to implement to make the change permanent and environment friendly.

There are many places across the city where the JNAC or MNAC are the decisions makers and the condition is really bad. We are planning to get in touch within the coming days and find out a way to involve the people and administration to keep the place clean and hygienic.

We are in touch with the Durga Puja committee and Chhath puja teams to make sure the festivals don't have a detrimental I'm pact on the water bodies and the surrounding.

Despite tremendous efforts and awareness people in our city do not make use of the dustbin and have a minimal idea about waste management. We have witnessed corners and public spaces filled with garbage and trash which is not only making our city ugly but is also a major factor behind the spread of diseases.

Who else will keep our home clean if not us?

So we get to the field and act to solve the issue that has been hampering our ecosystem for a very long time. We are working every day to accomplish our mission to make our city healthy and clean. We are getting to the field and picking up plastic waste to clean up our nature, which has nurtured us but has only been let down by humans.

So it’s the time to act, and the time is now!

(The views expressed in the article are the author’s own. Let Me Breathe neither endorses nor is responsible for them.)