Odisha: Get a meal in exchange of half kilogram plastic waste

A few days back, the Chhattisgarh forest department had come up with an innovative idea of using waste plastic bottles for growing saplings which was appreciated by many. And now, in a great initiative, Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) has rolled out an initiative under which it will serve a meal in exchange for a half kilogram plastic waste.

The concept of this 'Meal for Plastic' scheme is that people can get their plastic waste weighed and enjoy a warm meal in return. Citizens will get free food in exchange for a half kg of plastic waste. 

The ''Meal for Plastic'' initiative has been rolled out in collaboration with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) under the state government's Aahar Scheme.

Odisha: Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) in collaboration with NGOs has rolled out an initiative "Meal for Plastic" under State government's Ahar Yojana. Prem Chandra Chaudhary, BMC Commissioner says,"This is kind of a plastic collection campaign, plus food security." pic.twitter.com/kc79AJI922

— ANI (@ANI) December 16, 2019

The facility will be available at all the state-government-run Aahar Centers in Bhubaneswar, Odisha.

Speaking to ANI, BMC Commissioner Prem Chandra Chaudhary said: "This is kind of a Plastic Collection campaign, plus (provides) food security. There are a lot of people who collect plastic and there also the people who throw plastic, which creates a problem. So we thought there should be some mechanism to collect this plastic waste, where both the objectives can be achieved.

"So now anyone can go to any of the 11 Aahar Center in Bhubaneswar and by giving half a kilogram of plastic waste, they can get the meal," BMC Commissioner added.

In the month of October, Chhattisgarh Health Minister T S Singh Deo had inaugurated, 'Garbage Cafe' in Ambikapur on the same concept. The cafe also provides free food in exchange for plastic waste.