Odisha: New initiative offers meal in exchange for plastic waste

In a bid to enhance the plastic waste management and create awareness among people to curb pollution from such waste products, 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 'Meal for Plastic' initiative has been rolled out in collaboration with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) under the state government's Aahar Scheme.

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

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," Chaudhary added.

Tarana Shayad, Project head Plastic Waste Management, UNDP said "This Project is a small step to protect the environment and to create awareness among the people regarding Plastic waste. We will collect all the plastic from the Aahar Centers and will recycle it in a proper manner."

"BMC wants to aware the people through this that plastic may feed you, so don't throw plastic on roads, just collect it and get food," Shayad added.

Koraput Notified Area Council (NAC) in Koraput District had initiated a similar Program in October this year.