300 WEEKS OF BEACH CLEANING AND COUNTING VASAI BEACH CLEANERS'S SUSTAINABLE REVOLUTION

On one fine day in 2017, Lisbon Ferrao with his wife Zsuzsanna Salda, daughter Nascha and son Lucius planned a day out at the beach. While the kids were happy and excited to build their castles, the entire day turned out to be totally different. 

Lisbon found his children playing with plastic bottles scattered around. This left him in shock and at that moment he, along with his wife, decided to clear off a few plastic bottles and bags every time they would visit the beach. 

Lisbon, his wife, and his kids joined hands and began picking up the rubbish from the beach. They started sharing ‘after and before scenes’ pictures on Facebook, which went viral, leading to many volunteers turning up to clean the beaches.

In our conversation with Lisbon Ferrao, he shared insights about his movement, the impact it has made so far and his future plans.

1. Can you tell us more about the moment that inspired you to start cleaning the beaches in Mumbai?

When my children were born, that was the greatest moment of my life, and my achievements or failures meant nothing because I was content. However, it was a trip to the beach with them that triggered a realisation. Seeing them play with sand and plastic bottles, it struck me that no child should have to grow up in a world cluttered with plastic waste. They say ‘drop by drop makes the ocean’ and we cleaned an ocean of plastic.