CHENNAI: The state forest department and volunteers have removed more than 54 tonnes of plastics waste from forest areas across the state.
As per the compiled data, over 54.5 tonnes of plastics waste were collected across 46 forest divisions on Saturday with the active participation of more than 12,000 individuals, including NGOs, students, local communities, and department staff, a department release said.
"This helped to clear the accumulated plastics waste in all wildlife areas. The campaign ' Plastics Free Forests' launched by the Department will take place every month, creating massive awareness about the ill effects of plastics on wildlife," the department added.
Meanwhile, the Department has already set up 132 checkposts in Tamil Nadu for plastics screening and collection as a first line of defence.
As much as 7,335 kg of plastics waste was collected in the Tiruvannamalai forest division, which is the highest among the 46 divisions. In Vellore, 6,170kg was collected. As much as 2,500kg were collected from the boundaries of Nanmangalam and Vandalur reserve forests in Chennai division.