Before this, I had never been to any cleanup drive or didn’t took any such initiative to clean a place which is something that I wanted to experience at least one. Fortunately, just a few days later I got a message on the grade’s google chat space about an upcoming wetland cleanup drive. I enjoyed the first time a lot and hence, ended up going on three cleanup drives on different days. First one being on 24th November 2024, second one being on the 8th of December and last one being on 2nd February 2025 (all at the same place ‘Nanpura Navdi Ovaro’). What I did was collect plastic thrown on land, gathering every plastic that I could in a big green recyclable bag after which we were asked to keep the bags filled up at a certain place near the area so that the sir in-charge could do the next step.

Learning Outcome 4: Show commitment to and perseverance in CAS experiences.
Starting off the clean up drive, on the first day even though I was excited a lot as it was my first clean up drive, after a few minutes as I went forward in the walkway I was disgusted with the things people threw on the road, I remember finding half-eaten rotten food covered in a kind of plastic bowl. Even though I had a mask to cover my face, I was not able to fully avoid the bad smell coming from the waste on the land. All of this disgust and smell made me realize how hard working and committed the actual cleaners who clean our city are. This motivated me to show commitment and continue the task. Furthermore, each day, every three day while doing the task, collecting plastic, I was tired, very tired because we had to fill a very big bag which required a lot of plastic waste to be full, nonetheless I showed commitment and perseverance by not quitting and reducing as much plastic waste as I could on all the three days.

Learning Outcome 5: Demonstrate the skills and recognize the benefits of working collaboratively.
Mostly we did all the tasks individually, collecting waste individually, however, at times me and my friends also worked together. I remember on the first day between a group we had only one bag to fill and as we were around five to six people, we were able to fill the bag with plastic waste very easily and very quickly, showing the benefits of working collaboratively. On the second and the third day, we had to do the task individually with individual bags handed out to everyone (the bags were same as before) and that is when we realized how hard it actually is to do the task individually. While doing it all individually as well, when one person is finished, the person would come to the ones who are still doing the task to help them, making it all more fast and more efficient with working collaboratively.

Learning Outcome 6: Demonstrate engagement with issues of global significance.
Plastic waste is a global issue, increasing plastic waste on land causes land pollution which causes microplastics to form, leading to harmful chemicals emerging which ultimately harms the environment (environment as in the whole earth). To do something for this issue, to do what I could do the best, I engaged with this issue of global significance by taking part in this cleanup drive to protect wetland and promote sustainability so that land degradation and biodiversity loss can be avoided at least to some extent.

Learning Outcome 7: Recognize and consider the ethics of choices and actions.
During this journey of cleanup drive, I recognized and considered the ethics of my choices and actions. Firstly, this cleanup drive made me realize how much plastic waste there actually is in our city. The place we visited was a wetland walkway, the place is just another small place in the city but it had a lot of plastic waste. In every two or three step you would find some or the other plastic waste. This made me think about my action of throwing away plastic waste on land, it made me reflect on my own actions. Since the cleanup drive, I have been more conscious of my plastic usage and plastic waste. Moreover, as I reflected on the cleanup drive, I was proud of myself for doing something for the society and for contributing in such initiatives as I consider this as something ethically right and in fact good. Hence, I will not stop here but continue to take part in such events in the future as well if possible.

Conclusion –
To conclude, the cleanup drive experience was great, I had always wanted to try one and after the first one I ended up going in two more cleanup drives. Along with doing something good for the society, something good for the environment, as I reflected upon my experience, I realized that it had also impacted me, it had changed me ethically as after the cleanup drive I had been more conscious of my own actions, moreover, it also motivated me to only contribute more to the society and do more for the society.