The amount of plastic waste produced by Thaipusam celebrations puts a heavy burden on Mother Nature’s shoulders. ― Picture courtesy of JK Wicky

PETALING JAYA, Jan 20 — A group of artistes have banded together with a film director to encourage those attending Thaipusam to keep Batu Caves clean.

The local Indian artistes Logan, Hamsini Perumal, Ganesan Manohgaran and Tinesh Sarathi Krishnan star in the public service announcement video that gives useful tips to devotees on embracing Thaipusam tomorrow in an eco-friendly way.

It is made by film director JK Wicky.

Titled “Kasakku, Nasukku”, the video spotlights the mountains of rubbish left behind after the festival and urges viewers to adopt a more eco-friendly attitude towards the celebrations this year.

They actively call out litterbugs for their actions as clips showing rubbish strewn across the temple entrance play on screen.

Some of the environmentally-friendly tips offered in the video include crumpling up one’s rubbish to save space in bins, bringing a reusable bag, and buying milk in cartons instead of plastic bottles.

Logan, whose full name is Loganathan Kanabathy, told Malay Mail he was motivated to join the project after learning more about environmental issues from his wife, who is an environmental economist.

“She educated me on the seriousness of the damage people are inflicting on Mother Earth,” he said.

“We wanted to start a movement to educate people through some videos. This video (Kasakku, Nasukku) is our first move and we have other ideas as well to do more.”

Wicky said he hoped that subcontractors in charge of cleaning up Batu Caves would have enough staff and increase the frequency of cleaning up so the bins provided would not overflow.

As part of his efforts to keep the temple spick and span during Thaipusam, the film director will host a volunteer drive to clean up the riverbanks of Batu Caves on January 21 from 5pm to 7pm.

Interested parties can contact Wicky on his Facebook page for more information.