The huge quantity of debris and garbage washed ashore at Kovalam beach in the past few days has added to the concerns regarding protection of marine environment. In the past four days alone, volunteers and local residents cleaned five tonnes of garbage pushed to the Leela beach alone. The bulk of the waste that got deposited on the shore is plastic. It also includes leather products, medical waste (including syringes), fishing nets and clothes. The cleaning campaign was led by the NGO Friends of Marine Life (FML). Local fishermen also joined the volunteer team and actively engaged in the cleaning campaign. On Wednesday morning, a team of city corporation workers also joined to help them clear of the heaps of garbage. FML founding director Robert Panipilla said the much-celebrated pre-monsoon cleaning drive might have been responsible for the sudden deposit of debris on the shore. The collected waste kept at different places might have been washed out by the rain and it would have naturally reached the sea, said Panipilla. The region at Kovalam adjacent to Leela Beach has large rocks on the land and also underwater. The pre-monsoon drive often results in surface waste getting removed with much of the waste remaining in the water body even afterwards. When the rain begins, current pushes the garbage towards the sea where they pollute the sea bed. Some of it is washed to the shore while the rest remains under water, added Panipilla. After collecting the garbage, FML volunteers conducted an audit which revealed that around 90% of the waste which was deposited on the beach comprised of plastic, nylon, PVC, rubber, leather and thermocol. Another major component was medical waste including syringes and used gloves. The waste that was washed ashore was removed manually with the help of push carts. Plastic bottles were segregated into a separate bundle. The fishermen in the locality, who reviewed the recovered fishing nets, said that they appeared to be broken nets that were collected from the sea and carelessly stored in some harbours. With garbage being pushed to the shore on Wednesday night too, FML volunteers decided to continue cleaning drive on Thursday.