A total of 19.40 tonnes of non-biodegradable waste were collected from all the 100 wards of the city on Wednesday.

Corporation Commissioner S. Aneesh Sekhar, who oversaw the campaign of collecting plastic waste on all Wednesdays, said three corporation workers and one official would be in charge of collection in Zone 1 (Ellis Nagar), Zone 2 (Race Course Road), Zone 3 (Chairman Muthuramaier Road) and Zone 4 (Periyar bus stand). A huge workforce was mobilised for the campaign, he said.

S. Tamilarasi, a resident of Alwarpuram, said “It has become a habit for me to dump empty milk packet along with the vegetable waste. I have to change my habit in accordance with the corporation’s plan of waste segregation at source as it is good for the environment.”

Additional dumpsters have been placed along the Vaigai to prevent people from dumping non-biodegradable waste on the riverbed.

Corporation workers and residents took part in a signature campaign in the four zones to raise awareness of the importance of waste segregation at source. Assistant City Health Officer Parthiban, Assistant Commissioners and Sanitary Inspectors took part in the Wednesday’s campaign.