NEW DELHI: To promote the concepts of Sustainable tourism environment-friendly travel community WanderOn in association with Healing Himalayas, the pioneer community of environmental activists, organized a week-long cleanup drive to save the valley from further ruins.
The aim was cleaning up of dumping yards near the tourist spots to help the place regain its pristine beauty.
The drive was initiated by 30 environment volunteers, who were later joined by hotel owners, administration and locals of the nearby villages. There was a strong hold over the matter of general awareness associated with the campaign of how every person has duties when it comes to keeping the nature happy. Together the group cleared two dump yards in Kaza, the capital town of Spiti.
The volunteers were in the way, taught to segregate between wastes- glass, single-use plastics, recyclable plastic, aluminum cans, Plastic wrappers, glass bottles, polythene bags, and other non-biodegradable waste was collected and segregated in Kaza.
Segregation of plastic is extremely helpful for their proper management and disposal. Much of the waste accumulation issues of the Spiti Valley also rise due to the fact that there was not much provisions for proper waste disposal in the Valley because of its location in an isolated area.
WanderOn send sacks, gloves, masks and much of its enthusiasm to the drive and in the first three days the dump yard behind the very famous photo booth “Welcome to Spiti” was shining clean. The other dump yard happens to be on the bank of the Spiti River, which made the river more susceptible to pollution. The administration at Kaza was very supportive of the drive. They came forward and provided the vehicle to transport 200 garbage sacks to the waste management plant in Shimla.
The campaign tried teaching lessons on development and sustainability whereby it talked of fun and tourism with respect to responsibilities and to the natural environment around.
WanderOn has been constantly urging its travelers to minimize their plastic usage on trips by providing them refillable metal bottles and day packs to carry their plastic waste. The beautiful result to the campaign was the shining clean areas the dump yards turned into. The drive was a huge success.
The story of Spiti valley lies in the hands of each of the tourists that go there. For the valley to live happily ever after we need tourists as responsible and cooperative to understand the importance of their little contributions in keeping the valley’s smile intact.
WanderOn, a travel community that provides travel packages for tours in India and abroad. It designs travel itineraries, taking groups of like-minded travelers on trips across the best destinations to enjoy in. Their services include road trips, trekking expeditions, corporate trips, and customized tour packages.
