Niantic partners with CARESS & Eco-Society India for a beach clean-up in Chennai

Embarking on a mission to keep the oceans clean, Niantic, the parent company of AR based games such as Pokémon GO, Ingress, and Pikmin Bloom, collaborated with Centre for Action Research on Environment Science & Society (CARESS), and Eco-Society of India, to clean up Kovalam beach in Chennai. 

Other collaborators included Surf Turf, TT Group of companies, Kanini Software Solutions and AMET University. Marine debris is a significant resource management issue around the world, with plastics documented at the most remote islands and depths of oceans. The impact of this is farreaching affecting wildlife, water quality, distribution of invasive species, economies, and even human health, with the material breaking down into micro and nano-plastics that never leave the ecosystem.

The event witnessed the involvement of approximately 200 enthusiasts, who gathered early in the morning. They collected over 1,500 kg of trash within a period of two hours. 90% of the trash collected consisted of plastic (hard, film and foam), 8% was footwear, and 2% was miscellaneous items including broken tiles. The waste was responsibly disposed of by Kovalam Panchayat’s President J. ShobanaThangam addressing all the participants at the end.