One man, one boat and an unyielding fight against plastic

Mavoor: At 65, Mapramkunnathu Mammu still won’t give up his daily fight against plastic waste in the rivers here.

Venturing out every morning on a country boat, he collects plastic waste from the waterbody and keeps working, unmindful of his age, till mid-noon. All the plastic he gathers is brought ashore on his boat.

At the Mapram Kadavu (ghat) on the Chaliyar, the plastic waste collected by Mammu has now piled up like a mound. According to him, the highest volume of waste floats down at the point where the Iruvanji river meets the Chaliyar. And it’s not just the waste drifting on the surface, he also collects the plastic bottles and waste stuck on the riverine plants.

Mammu, who had been into farming and fishing, began collecting plastic waste on his country boat after realising that more plastic than fish was beginning to get caught in the nets he cast. He finds relief in the fact that he has been able to clear the plastic waste that destroys fish stocks and other small beings that are part of the riverine ecosystem. Mammu also earns a small sum from the sale of this collected waste.

Despite widespread campaigns against dumping plastic into rivers, Mammu says that tonnes of plastic continue to float down the waterways every single day.