Telangana’s Mulugu district has recently launched an initiative called ‘Give 1 Kg Plastic Waste To Get 1 Kg Rice’ across 174 villages, The Better India reported.
The move comes ahead of an upcoming ban on the usage of single-use plastic items like straws, spoons, glasses, carry bags, etc.
The programme, which will run for ten days, will see the Mulugu District administration collecting plastic from villagers at collection centres which will be set up at various locations within the villages.
Villagers giving one kilo of plastic will be given one kilo of rice in return, the report said.
Speaking to The Better India, District Collector C Narayana Reddy said that the rice was an incentive to "educate people about plastic waste and why it needs to be banned in the region."
In order to fund the initiative, officials are accepting donations of rice or money from people. The administration has provided a number for people to reach out on.
According to the report, in the last 15 days or so, the administration has collected over 450 quintals of rice and nearly Rs 6 lakh in cash.
The plastic collection too has been successful, with almost 2,400 kilos of plastic being collected at 250 collection centres on the very first day itself. So far, a total of 31,000 kilos of plastic has been collected.
The district collector told The Better India that the target is to collect 50 tonnes of plastic by the end of the collection drive. This plastic will then be taken to recycling agencies.
Simultaneously, the collector has started an initiative to implement and encourage usage of cloth bags.
(With inputs from The Better India.)
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