India’s first garbage café in Chhattisgarh | Fusion - WeRIndia

To deal with the plastic crisis and provide relief from plastic waste to citizens, the Municipal Corporation in Chhattisgarh initiated a novel initiative. It launched a café for the poor, Garbage Café.

It is the first garbage café in the country. It was opened in Ambikapur, Chhattisgarh, to help provide a free meal to the poor in exchange for plastic waste.

Ambikapur, one of the cleanest cities in the country, plans to utilize plastic efficiently, like the construction of roads. At the same time, it also wants to help the poor and homeless. That’s why the garbage café was launched.

The city has a plastic road made with a mixture of 8 lakh plastic bags and asphalt.

The café operates from the main bus stand of the city. The café offers meals for one kilogram of plastic waste and breakfast for a half-kilogram of plastic.

The Municipal Corporation allocated funds for this café in their budget. It also wants to provide free shelter to the homeless people who collect plastic waste.

Many rag pickers eat meals at this café. One of them said to the media that this café made his dreams of eating at a restaurant true. He added that though he wanted to eat a hot meal by sitting at a table as many people in the country, he could not do it due to lack of money. But, now he could eat a hot meal at this garbage café in place of plastic waste. He was very happy about it as the meal satisfies his hunger and long-lasting wish.

Also, many families visit this café to eat by bringing plastic waste. Ajay Tirkey, the mayor of the city, says that the food offered at this café is delicious and nutritious. Hence, many underprivileged enjoy eating at garbage café.

Photo by Sallu from Pixahive (Free for commercial use / CC0 Public Domain)

Image Reference: https://pixahive.com/photo/food-14/