Mid-Day Anniversary | The Gen Z trash police: Meet the Mumbaikar turning civic sense into viral content

The embarrassment on being captured littering, says Aryan Kataria, leaves a stronger impression than a scolding ever could. Pic/Satej Shinde

The first time someone saw Aryan Kataria wearing a fluorescent green reflector vest on a Mumbai beach, a notepad in hand, they probably assumed he was a municipal official. That illusion lasted till he stopped someone who had just littered. And, instead of issuing a fine, Kataria asked them to do sit-ups as punishment.

In another video, he mockingly presents litterbugs with an oversized gift box in which he has wrapped the trash they have thrown just minutes ago and hands it back to them. His signature blend of public embarrassment and humour has struck such a chord online that a new warning has entered Juhu Beach's vocabulary: "Kachra mat phenkna warna Aryan aajayega."

Kataria, through his viral content, has been making civic responsibility entertaining enough for people to pay attention. Ironically, it all began with a brand collaboration. "Whenever I have a wrapper, I have a packet or juice packet or can, I just keep it in my bag. If you open my bag someday, you will just see a lot of trash which has not been thrown out," says Kataria. So, when a brand campaign around civic sense landed on his desk, he wanted to avoid the predictable cleanliness drive video.

"I thought, in what creative way can I actually do a video where ‘bring back civic sense' comes in? I just thought of a lot of ideas and then stumbled upon this one where if someone throws a piece of garbage, I can just go boo them with 10 other people." The resulting video crossed two million views.

More importantly, it changed how Kataria thought about the problem itself. "I thought, this is a good idea to make people aware about not throwing garbage on the road, because still, when will you guys go and do cleanliness drives? People are picking up stuff, but is it really making any change? People are still going to throw garbage. We have to go to the root cause of the garbage and not let people throw it."

This now shapes every video he has done on the issue since. The formats, though, keep changing. One day, he's slow-clapping people who litter. Another day he's presenting them with a mock cheque and trophy. Then comes the gift-wrapped garbage, followed by the now-famous fine videos where the reflector vest instantly gives him an air of authority. "I realised whenever you wear the neon vest, you become an authoritative person," he says, laughing.

Behind the comedy, however, lie hours of patient observation. "It's a very tough video to make, actually. You have to figure out who is throwing garbage and when and where they throw it. I have kind of mastered it right now."

Kataria has developed what he jokingly calls his own behavioural database. "If a person is drinking chai, 110 per cent that guy is going to throw a cup. That's my thesis till now. The people who eat bhel, they also throw it on the ground."

He then discreetly records the moment someone litters before stepping in. But not every encounter is pleasant. One person turned aggressive. Another had to be handled with the help of nearby police officers. Yet Kataria believes humour succeeds where lectures around cleanliness and civic sense often fail. "Humour works because everyone loves to laugh," he says. "You can entertain as well as educate. That is where things work."

He's seen that first-hand. One young man whose clip briefly appeared online pleaded with him to take it down. "He messaged me, ‘Please delete the video.' I said, ‘I'll delete it. But you have to come with me for the next video.'" Kataria agreed to remove the clip, but only after making him promise not to litter again. The embarrassment, he says, leaves a stronger impression than a scolding ever could. The impact has begun extending beyond his own videos. Fitness creators, followers and even strangers have started calling out littering after watching his content.

"People have reposted this so much, saying, ‘I'll also do this. If I see someone throwing garbage, I'll also do this.'" The biggest compliment, though, came unexpectedly while he was filming. "I heard someone saying, ‘Aryan aa jayega.' I was wearing glasses and a cap, so they couldn't recognise me. People are now scared of getting caught on video if they litter."

That shift, however small, is precisely what keeps him going. Kataria is also careful not to reduce the issue to individual behaviour alone. While he wants people to stop littering, he believes better infrastructure is equally important. "I feel a lot of people think there are a lot of dustbins which are accessible, but which are not," he says. "There should be more dustbins accessible."

In a city that often complains about dirty streets, Kataria has found a refreshing Mumbai solution: if people won't listen to a lecture, perhaps they will listen to a punchline.