This Hungarian Woman Calls Mumbai Her Home And Has Cleaned The Beaches 200 Times!

Sunday marked a milestone for Zsuzsanna Ferrao, her husband Lisbon Ferrao, and their team of volunteers as they completed their 200th beach clean-up drive in Mumbai.

Zsuzsanna who is Hungarian and has been living in India after marrying Mumbai businessman Ferrao in 2013 has been organising beach clean-up drives in Vasai since 2017.

Zsuzsanna Ferrao with her family

Five years ago it started as a small, family thing after Zsuzsanna saw her toddlers picking up litter while playing on the beach during a regular outing.

"We have been doing this since 2017. There are seven beaches in Vasai and all of them are filled with dirt. We were on the beach one day and we noticed that while playing our kids were picking up the trash that was lying around. So we thought about cleaning the beaches ourselves," Zsuzsanna told Indiatimes.

Vasai Beach Cleaners

Initially, Zsuzsanna said it was just the two of them and they used to carry a bag to the beach whenever they went and collected as much trash as possible.

"We later posted some photos on social media and invited volunteers to join us. This received a good response and many like-minded people came forward. In the five years, we have worked with thousands of volunteers. Even with all the COVID-19 restrictions, we have around 20-30 volunteers for every clean-up drive," she said.

Vasai Beach Cleaners

With the COVID-19 situation improving, she said that they will be able to do larger clean-up drives, which were not possible in the past two years.

Zsuzsanna who was born in land-locked Hungary loved the rivers there and after moving to India fell in love with the beaches of Mumbai.

"I love the beaches here and enjoy going there. My husband grew up here and he remembers going to the beaches when he was young. Those days, he has good memories of the beaches being very beautiful and clean. And now they have become filled with plastic and other waste materails," Zsuzsanna said.

Vasai Beach Cleaners

In the five years, Zsuzsanna and her team have managed to remove 500 tonnes of plastic from the beaches. She however admits that the disposal of the collected waste is still a challenge.

"The plastic waste we collect from the beaches is covered in sand and sometimes in oil, which is leaked from the oil rigs. During the collection, we segregate the waste as recyclable and non-recyclable. We give the recyclables to some local ragpickers who regularly collect them from us. The rest of the waste is picked up by the BMC, as we can't do much with them. We are still trying to find better ways to dispose them off," she said.

Vasai Beach Cleaners

According to her the waste that is being piled up on the beaches is not just making the area dirty, but also causing much harm to the environment and the local ecosystem.

"We are doing our bit to keep the beaches clean because the waste is not just keeping them dirty but also it affects the life of wild and aquatic animals there. There are forest areas close to the beaches in Vasai and there are a lot of animals. In the ocean also there are aquatic animals that are being affected due to the pollution. The impact of this is already visible. We have seen many dolphins, turtles, and others washing ashore, dead due to the pollution," she said.

Vasai Beach Cleaners

Other than the regular clean-up drives on the beaches, Zsuzsanna and her team are also involved in planting mangroves and tree saplings along the coastline.

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