Heroes fight back on International Environment Day as plastic waste threatens the planet

Several organisations and volunteers are fighting back against the menace that is polluting water bodies and threatening to drown our cities (Photo: AFP/AP)

Plastic problem: A landfill in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe, gives an idea of the mess in Africa (Photo: AFP)

Members of National Green Corps clean up plastic garbage along the Musi river in Hyderabad, India, Sunday, June 3, 2018. India is the global host for the forthcoming environmental day celebrations on june 5, 2018 with a theme “Beat Plastic Pollution” and launched an awareness program on environmental protection (Photo: AP)

An aerial view, taken on June 2, of the Niger river in the Malian capital Bamako, clogged with plastic waste (Photo: AFP)

Delhi, home to about 20 million people, generates 9,600 tonnes of plastic waste a day (Photo: AFP)

Low rates of rubbish collection in many parts of Asia is one of the main reasons why so much plastic waste ends up in the sea (Photo: AFP)

Taimur Nagar is one of many slums in Delhi and countless other Indian cities struggling to cope with waste, particularly plastic (Photo: AFP)