Afroz Shah’s journey from a single beach clean-up to leading one of the world’s largest environmental movements is nothing short of inspiring. The lawyer-activist opens up about tackling plastic waste, shifting mindsets, and the power of community action.
By Nichola Marie
An LLM (Gold Medallist) and practising lawyer at the Bombay High Court, Adv. Afroz Shah has spent over a decade mobilising citizens to resolve ‘human-ocean’ and ‘human-animal’ conflicts through sustained cleanup drives and grassroots behavioural change. Under his leadership, more than 170 million kilograms of plastic and waste have been removed from beaches, rivers, oceans, and mangroves, with additional millions of kilograms being recycled and eliminated. His foundation promotes a circular economy and the UN Sustainable Development Goals, engaging over 500,000 citizens and 200,000 students. Hailed by the UN for leading the “biggest beach clean-up in world history” at Versova, Mumbai — an effort that inspired the global Clean Seas campaign — Shah champions Gandhian values of love and collaboration. He is now driving efforts to reduce plastic at source, rethink urban waste, and embed a zero-waste, conscious lifestyle into the fabric of everyday life.
Excerpts from the interview…
You began your career as a lawyer. What sparked your transition into environmental activism?
I was born in Mumbai. My family lived here – my father, mother and grandfather. Growing up, I was always close to the water. My father would take me to lakes like Vihar and Powai. I’ve always been a “water baby”— rivers, beaches, lakes, I loved them all.
But the real turning point was when I moved to Versova. I bought a flat on the 10th floor with a sea view. When I looked out the window, I saw what used to be a beautiful beach covered in garbage, about five to six feet deep. It shocked me. This was a beach I had swum in as a teenager. And now it looked like a dumping yard. That moment was visceral. I knew I couldn’t just walk away. I had two options: Take the legal route, file a PIL in court; or use my hands and start cleaning. I chose the second.
You’ve said your early life played a big part in shaping your environmental ethic. Could you share more about that?
Absolutely. I grew up in a slum in Mumbai. We didn’t have much, sometimes not even food on the table. I went to a municipal school. But there was a strong culture of recycling and frugality. I remember a kind of barter system. My mother would save plastic waste and in return, we’d get things like sugar or garlic from local traders. Back then, India had fewer oil refineries, plastic was scarce, and people found value in waste. That mindset left a deep impression on me. Cleanliness, conservation — it was part of our routine survival, not a luxury.
As a lawyer, I took up environmental matters too. I read all the foundational laws — the Environment Protection Act, the Wildlife Protection Act. I studied MC Mehta’s landmark environmental cases. All of it shaped my thinking. Even at home, I practiced what I believed in. For 15–20 years, my house has been zero-garbage. I didn’t use a fridge or an air conditioner. My electricity usage was barely 70–80 units a month. It wasn’t for show; I genuinely wanted to reduce my carbon footprint.
How did you go from an individual effort to building a people’s movement?
The clean-up began in October 2015. For the first few months, it was just me and an 84-year-old gentleman from my building. We would fill two garbage bags and feel like we’d moved a mountain. Slowly, people began joining.
But I knew early on that clean-ups were just a starting point. You can’t solve plastic pollution with clean-ups alone. You need a five-pronged approach: Clean-ups, circular economy solutions, better waste management, strong government policy, and — most importantly — behavioural change.
So, I focused on building community. I opened my home. I went into the slums and into apartment buildings. I told people: Let’s share meals, let’s talk, let’s act. Let’s solve the problem of plastic pollution and global warming through love and food. Food and love became the glue. We must break bread together before we break barriers.
What’s your take on plastic itself — do you see it as the enemy?
Plastic is not the villain. It’s brilliant material. The problem is plastic pollution — how we use and dispose of it. A perfect example is the biscuit packet. A typical ₹5 biscuit packet weighs 30 grams for the product, but the multilayer plastic wrapper is just 1.5–2 grams. The problem? That wrapper is made of two fused polymers and a layer of aluminum. It’s nearly impossible to recycle economically. In India, we consume 70 to 100 billion of these packets annually.
Even if we collected all of them, recycling one gram of fused packaging costs more than the packet itself. Mechanical recycling doesn’t work and chemical recycling is expensive and polluting. So, most of it ends up in landfills, oceans, or gets burnt, choking drains and contributing to flooding. This is not just an environmental issue. It’s a socio-economic crisis.
You’ve been working with school students on this. Could you tell us about that?
Yes! I recently did a session with Mount Mary School. We’re running 22 workshops with them this year. I told the kids about the biscuit wrappers and the plastic crisis. But I didn’t just talk, we created a solution together. Students, teachers and principals all joined in to solve this problem.
We tied up with a biscuit manufacturer and designed refillable packaging. Instead of single-use plastic wrappers, the biscuits are delivered in reusable containers. In just two months, that school has already eliminated 3,500 multilayer plastic wrappers.
The children were excited to be part of something bigger. They tasted the biscuits, liked them, and more importantly, felt proud they weren’t harming marine life. That’s a behavioral change in action. It’s David vs Goliath. We may have 70 billion wrappers, but these small steps matter.
You’ve spoken about the “sense of belonging” as critical to solving the environmental crisis. Can you elaborate?
The biggest issue we face isn’t just pollution, it’s that we’ve lost our sense of belonging. To our cities, our rivers, our trees, our beaches.
When you feel that nature is part of your family, you act differently. You won’t throw garbage into a lake you see as a living being. You won’t design packaging that hurts the very planet you depend on.
That’s why I say: Treat nature like family. The ocean is your sibling. The tree is your parent. You wouldn’t poison your family, right?
You’ve engaged with governments, corporates, and communities. What’s your message to industry leaders?
We must move beyond the narrative of “us vs them.” Industry isn’t the enemy. Plastic manufacturers, biscuit companies, they want solutions too. But we all need to come to the table.
I’ve worked with several companies. I tell them: Let’s sit with a pen and paper. Let’s design packaging that protects your product, keeps costs viable, and doesn’t pollute. Let’s find alternatives that don’t ask people to choose between convenience and conscience. We humans are ingenious. If we can send satellites into space, surely we can find a better biscuit wrapper?
In a country as diverse and complex as India, what’s the most effective way to tackle plastic pollution?
No one-size-fits-all approach will work. The solution in Mumbai will differ from Chennai which will differ from Delhi. We must localise the response. And we must stop treating this as only a “global” problem. Yes, treaties and international forums matter. But the real work happens at the ground level. In a school. In a housing society. In a slum. The answer lies in micro-solutions to a macro problem.
After a decade of grassroots work, what keeps you hopeful?
It’s the people. The 84-year-old who showed up for a beach clean-up. The child who switches to a refillable biscuit container. The teacher who invites me to speak. The municipal worker who listens.
We’ve cleaned over 20 million kilograms of garbage from beaches, rivers, and forests. But the real clean-up is happening in hearts and minds. And that gives me immense hope. We’re not just cleaning beaches, we’re reclaiming our relationship with the Earth.
Awards:
• Recipient of Highest International Environmental Honor By the UN: “Champion of The Earth”
• Indian of The Year, CNNNEWS18, 2017
• nternational Sensation, DARPAN – CANADA, 2018
• GQ Man of The Year, 2019
• CNN HERO, 2019
• Mother Teresa Memorial Award for Social Justice, 2022
Speaker:
• Smithsonian Earth Optimism, 2017 (Washington DC, USA)
• Le Conclave Art of Change
• Conference, 2017 (Paris, France)
• German Pavilion – United Nations, 2017 (New York, USA)
• Ocean Conference – European Union, 2017 (Malta)
• Keynote Speaker at 19th World Festival of Youth and Students 2017 (Sochi, Russia) – 30,000 young leaders across 188 countries attended the festival
• Sixth International Marine Debris Conference, 2018 (San Diego, USA)
• National Conference on Marine Debris CoMaD 2018 (MBAI), India
• Global Citizen – Movement Makers Summit 2018 with 70 world leaders (New York, USA)
• Climate Change Leadership – Porto Summit 2019 – with Former US Vice President Al Gore (Portugal)
• Ocean Pioneers – Norwegian Shipowners Association, 2019 (Oslo, Norway)
• Spark Gala – Spark Global Philanthropy 2019 (Vancouver, Canada)
• UN Environment, Act for Nature, World Environment Day, 2020
• Addressed the UN Environment Assembly 2021 – 40 Government Ministers from across the World – along with Inger Andersen (Executive Director of the UNEP) and Joyce Msuya (Deputy Executive Director of the UNEP)
• IUCN, World Conservation Congress 2021 (Marseille)
• The Economics Times SDGs Summit 2021, India
• MoEFCC, Govt of India and Ministry of Ecological Transition, France – Webinar on Plastic Waste Management as part of the India France Year of Environment, October 2021
• Plastic Odyssey – organised by the Ambassador Sandeep Chakravorty, (Embassy of India, Jakarta), July 2024
• Member of the Indo-Norway Marine Pollution Project Steering Committee – set up by the Government of India and the Government of Norway
