Ripu Daman Bevli
An athlete and a fitness enthusiast, Ripu Daman Bevli, 31, started plogging in 2017 and gave rise to a new cleanliness cum fitness trend in India. Plogging is waste picking while jogging. So not only does it help the person stay fit but since the person also picks up plastic wrappers and other such trash lying around while jogging, it also helps clean up the surroundings.[1]
Ripu Daman Bevli started plogging in 2017[2] with the twin objectives of fighting against the garbage crisis and at the same time to stay fit. During a visit to Coimbatore in October, where he went plogging with the residents, he showed everyone the ‘trash workout’ where children and their parents do a bunch of exercises while learning to manage, segregate and reduce waste. “The response was amazing,” he said, adding, I hope it becomes a chain of change and not stop as a one-day activity. It is also about managing our waste, how we segregate, reduce, refuse and reuse. It should lead to a circular economy where no waste is wasted.”
He says he would now like Indians to participate in #PlasticUpvaas, a social media challenge. “Disposables and single-use items completely overwhelm our lives, so we give people a mantra of #PlasticUpvaas to start with the prohibition of one single-use plastic item, and gradually decrease their use,” he says. To mobilize people, he plans to hold a Plastic Upvaas Yatra, a run from Delhi to Mumbai.
One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a work now in the public domain: https://www.thehindu.com/sci-tech/energy-and-environment/plogman-on-india-ripu-daman-bevli-and-residents-clean-up-streets-of-coimbatore/article67430315.ece
