Porur lake rid of 3.5 tonnes of garbage

The cleaning activity was conducted as a part of ‘plogging’ initiative that was started on July 14 at Besant Nagar. “Plogging is a combination of jogging and ‘plocka upp’, a Swedish term for ‘to pick up’. The civic body plans to conduct ‘Chennai Plogging Challenge’ at public places and the areas where residents exercise,” a Chennai Corporation press release said.

The release added that 612 volunteers took part in the plogging activity in Porur lake and removed 3.5 tonnes of garbage. At the event, the civic body had erected stalls to create awareness on building rainwater harvesting structures and source segregation of waste.

Chennai Corporation deputy commissioners P Madhusudan Reddy and Alby John Varghese also took part in the plogging challenge.

“Organic waste collected during the activity will be composted while non-organic waste will be recycled. We have also presented organic compost to each of the participants,” an official said.

During the first plogging challenge conducted on July 14 at Elliot’s Beach, around 300 volunteers had participated.