Kanpur Ploggers

Lt Col. Hem Lohumi SM (Retd)

Founder: Lt Col. Hem Lohumi SM (Retd)

72 year old expert mountaineer, a gallantry award decorated soldier, Lt Col Hem Lohumi participated in setting up India’s First and Second Permanent Scientific Stations “Dakshin Gangotri” and “Maitri” in Antarctica.

A multifaceted person who served as a mountaineering instructor, participated in and led mountaineering expeditions from 1975 to 1987, including to Nanda Devi, the second highest and also taught Control Systems to undergraduate engineering students, two decades in Africa, constructing roads and buildings as a part of a corporate world, Hem is the team leader of the first ever Mundmaal parikrama of Ganga.

Blog Published On : 3 Feb 2023 |

3 Feb 2023
Lt Col. Hem Lohumi SM(Retd)

Take a peep inside yourself. When you see the garbage dumps around you, or hear stories of microplastic found in fetuses in wombs, what is your first reaction? Is it, “Why is the government not doing something?”, or is it, “Can I do something?”

If it is the latter, follow your heart, and draw inspiration from Sanjivini Sharma, a Kanpur- based young mother of a son. On a Sunday morning, Doctor Sanjivini, a dentist by profession, a blogger by passion, and a TedX Speaker, was strolling at Ganga Ghat with her Little child, Noddy. The walk was so delightful until she realized the lap of nature, which embraced Noddy’s innocence is decaying with heaps of garbage, plastic dump, and society’s oblivion.

She was stunned. Wanting to single-handedly take up the work of ridding the ghat of plastic waste, she was daunted by the overwhelming challenge and the self-doubt about what could she do alone.

Inspired by the ‘Plogging’ drive of our Prime Minister in Kerela, she took a leap of faith and used her Instagram handle to reach out to people in March 2021 to invite denizens to the noble mission she wanted to embrace.

Maa Ganga blessed her. It didn’t even take 24 hours for 150 audacious denizens to step forward and Kanpur Ploggers was born. KP successfully conducted its 1st drive on 6 March 2021.

One year later Kanpur Ploggers currently consists of 350 members from all walks of life
– be it teens, students, doctors, homemakers, or business owners, while the list is still extending, at least 20-40 people gather every week to collect quintals of waste.

Kanpur Ploggers have victoriously completed drives for 86 weeks and collected more than 40,000 kgs of waste and recycled 2,50,000 plastic packets. Support has poured in from Kanpur Nagar Nigam which transports the collected waste to the Panki waste plant for segregation and further management.

Not only the Government, but the private sector has also stepped forward. Supported by Shyam packaging agency, an authorized EPR recycler in Kanpur.

Kanpur Ploggers have initiated a Recycling project in which they urge Kanpurities to accumulate clean & dry plastic bags, wrappers, bottles, and anything plastic to send them recycling from the comfort of their doorsteps.

Kanpur Ploggers now aims at motivating large street food vendors at & around Kanpur Barrage to replace their plastic cutlery with sustainable options and teach them about proper waste management.

To expand its operations, and to make them a little more fun and interactive in the future, KP plans street plays, hoardings, and social media to make people learn something serious in an easy way.

Kanpur Ploggers is running two projects:- Project Sankalp which aims at distributing cloth bags for free to local vendors and shopkeepers to reduce the usage of poly bags. Project Bartan Bank which is formed to lend steel utensils for parties and such arrangements to alleviate disposables.