GREEN VERGE COMMUNITY CLEAN-UP

Four hours. One canal. Bring gloves.

Saturday 15 May 2027, 7am to 11am, along the Buckingham Canal at Kodungaiyur. We supply the bags, the tools, the breakfast, and someone who knows what they are doing. You bring whoever you can talk into coming.

Sign up to volunteer
Volunteers clearing the canal bank on a previous clean-up morning
11,400 kg
Waste removed since 2022
2,600
Native saplings planted
38
Clean-up mornings run
900+
Neighbours who have shown up
Step 1

Turn up at the bridge

Meet at the Kodungaiyur bridge from 6:45am. Look for the green flags and the tea stall — we take one over every clean-up morning and the tea is on us. Sign in, grab gloves and a bag, and get put in a group of eight.

The meeting point at Kodungaiyur bridge
Volunteers sorting collected waste into recycling streams
Step 2

Clear a stretch, sort as you go

Each group takes about eighty metres of bank. Sorting into four streams as you collect is what makes the difference — unsorted bags mostly end up back in landfill, and every group has someone who will show you how.

Step 3

Plant something, then eat

The last hour is replanting — pungam, neem, and portia saplings along the cleared bank, all raised in the Kodungaiyur nursery. Breakfast is at 10:30 and nobody has ever left hungry.

Volunteers planting saplings along the cleared canal bank

Come along on the 15th

Sign up so we bring enough gloves and breakfast. Bring children, bring your neighbours, bring your office — groups of any size are welcome, just tell us roughly how many.

Email address
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From people who came last time

“I brought my two kids expecting to last an hour. They made me stay until the breakfast ran out and have asked about the next one every week since.”

LN

Lakshmi Narayanan

Volunteer since 2024

“Our whole team came instead of doing an offsite. It cost nothing, and it is the only team day anyone still talks about.”

BK

Bhavesh Kamath

Operations lead, Trellis Textiles

“I have lived beside this canal for thirty-one years. I did not think anything would change. Then a hundred people showed up on a Saturday, and it did.”

SM

Selvi Murugan

Kodungaiyur resident

What to expect

What should I wear?+

Closed shoes you do not mind ruining, long sleeves, and a hat. The bank is uneven and it gets hot by nine. We provide gloves, bags, tools, and sunscreen.

Can I bring children?+

Yes, and lots of people do. Under-14s stay on the upper bank with a designated group — the water's edge is for adults only, no exceptions.

Do I need to stay the whole four hours?+

Not at all. Plenty of people do an hour on the way to something else. Sign in and sign out so we know who is on the bank.

Is it safe?+

There are two trained first-aiders on site and a briefing at 7am that we ask everyone to sit through. Nobody handles sharps or medical waste — flag it and a trained volunteer deals with it.

Can my company volunteer as a group?+

Yes. Tell us the number in the sign-up form. Above twenty people we will get in touch beforehand to split you across stretches.