NE NEWS SERVICE
NEW DELHI, DECEMBER 5
Union Minister for Youth Affairs and Sports Kiren Rijiju on Thursday attended the grand finale of ‘Run To Make India Litter Free’ – a 50 cities plogging run with Ripu Daman Bevli, organised by R|Elan, the next generation fabrics from Reliance Industries Ltd. (RIL) at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium here.
Dressed in a white sweatshirt and track pants, the Union Minister was seen holding the campaign flag in one hand and the gunny sack in another.
Run To Make India Litter Free- a plogging run, an exercise that combines jogging with picking up litter ,that began from Kochi on September 5 this year with pit-stops in key cities of Mumbai, Hyderabad and Kolkata, culminated here today, covering 1,000 kilometres across 50 cities in India and collecting 2.7 tonnes of littered plastic waste.
Ripu Daman, India’s first plogger began the initiative to drive the common goal of inculcating the habit of enhancing fitness at the same time keeping the environment clean, among the health and environment enthusiasts in the country.
Daman, said: “It is a dream run. In a true sense. Run To Make India Litter Free is the biggest catalyst in making huge inroads in achieving my dream of seeing India litter-free a reality. We have covered 50 cities and 1000 km across India and spread the word of providing utmost importance to a clean environment and healthy lifestyle among thousands of enthusiasts.”
“We are proud that our efforts were recognised by Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi and Sports Authority of India had invited us to participate in FIT India Run on 2nd October in Delhi. That provided us the stimulus to further intensify our drive. Though the run is over now but we have passed on the baton to thousands of ambassadors across the country who will continue the good work of plogging and spreading the awareness about cleanliness and healthy lifestyle,” he added.
The exercise lasted over 30 minutes. The Prime Minister had earlier too spoken in favour of the exercise which not only keeps the body healthy but helps the environment.
RIL, manufacturer of R|Elan GreenGold fibres, made from recycling post-consumer PET bottles and the greenest fibres in the world, collected the plastics from the ploggers and sent it for recycling.
RIL’s post-consumer PET bottle recycling facility at Barabanki in Uttar Pradesh, recycles 2.25 billion PET bottles every year and converts it into R|Elan GreenGold fibres, one of the greenest fibres in the world.
Commenting on today’s launch of R|Elan Run To Make India Litter Free’ initiative, Gunjan Sharma, CMO – Polyester Business, RIL, said: “We are overwhelmed with the grand response that this plogging run has received across the country. It has truly helped achieving our moto of spreading awareness about sustainability and circularity and inculcating healthy lifestyle habits among the citizens. We will make performance enhancement apparels from R|Elan fabrics made out of the collected PET bottles through this initiative.”
