Moga village gives sugar for plastic waste

Five quintal of sugar for five quintal of household waste plastic. This is the ‘sweet barter’ that 3,200-odd residents of Ransih Kalan, a village about 30km from district headquarters, indulged into on October 21, as part of their efforts to get rid of plastic waste, a source of everlasting pollution and untold misery.

“I wanted to make the village free of plastic, as I am aware of its ill-effects on the environment. I introduced this plan with the expectation that villagers will start storing plastic waste in their houses instead of throwing it around the village,” says former sarpanch Preet Inder Singh, 29, who had first floated the idea during his tenure. He added that plastic waste was also deadly for stray animals ruminating around the village’s garbage dumps.

Finally, the first such camp was held with Singh’s mother as the sarpanch. The villagers were told around two months ago, with the complete plan for the camp firmed up around a month back. For the record, sugar costs around ₹40 per kg, while the plastic collected will be sold to a private Ludhianabased firm ‘Parivartan’ at ₹10/kg for recycling. Singh added that four philanthropists — Rupinderdeep Singh, Harnek Singh, Jagseer Singh and Manjinder Singh — helped them fund the cost of sugar of around ₹2 lakh.

“We will hold a camp every two months to give the villagers enough time to store plastic waste at home. At the next camp, we plan to offer jaggery, rice and wheat. To get children to actively participate, we will offer them books in exchange for empty packets of chips and other such eatables,” Singh added.

FIVE QUINTAL EXCHANGED; PLASTIC COLLECTED WILL BE SOLD TO A LUDHIANA FIRM AT ₹10/KG FOR RECYCLING