<
https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20250818-the-indian-garbage-cafes-giving-out-food-in-exchange-for-plastic-waste>
'As I approach India's first Garbage Cafe on a cloudy and foggy winter day in
early 2025, the smell of hot samosas immediately makes the place feel cosy.
Inside, people are sitting on wooden benches holding steel plates filled with
steaming meals, some chatting, others eating quietly.
Every day, hungry people arrive at this cafe in Ambikapur, a city in the state
of Chhattisgarh in central India, in the hope of getting a hot meal. But they
don't pay for their food with money – instead, they hand over bundles of
plastic such as old carrier bags, food wrappers and water bottles.
People can trade a kilogram (2.2lb) of plastic waste for a full meal that
includes rice, two vegetable curries, dal, roti, salad and pickles, says Vinod
Kumar Patel, who runs the cafe on behalf of the Ambikapur Municipal Corporation
(AMC), the public body which manages the city's infrastructure and services.
"For half a kilogram of plastic, they get breakfast like samosas or vada pav."'
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
