Telangana: Mulugu District Collector offers 1kg rice in exchange of 1 kg plastic waste

Mulugu (Telangana) [India], Nov 18 (ANI): In a bid to make Mulugu district free from the use of single-use plastic, District Collector, Mulugu is offering 1 kg of rice in exchange of 1 kg of plastic waste.
C Narayana Reddy, District Collector, Mulugu told ANI, "We have started a campaign in Mulugu District to make the district rid of single-use plastic before the Medaram Jatara festival on February 5, 2020."
This awareness campaign commenced on October 16, 2019, for ten days and as part of this campaign, the District Collector announced that 1 kg rice will be provided to the people in exchange to 1 kg plastic waste.
"We have received a good response from across the villages and Mandal's in Mulugu district," said Reddy.
He added that various groups of people including school children have participated in this initiative and have collected plastic waste littered on the roads.
"A total of 44,848 kg of single-use plastic waste has been exchanged by the public and in return, they have been given 1 Kg of good quality rice, which has even boosted their morale," said Reddy.
"We have managed to buy 44,848 kg of good quality rice by the help of donations from businessmen and traders in the district. This rice was distributed among the public who deposited plastic waste at Gram Panchayats in Mulugu District," he added.
In this initiative, government school students also came forward and helped the authorities by collecting plastic waste from roads and depositing it in the Gram Panchayats.
"I want to see a single-use plastic-free Mulugu District before Medaram Jathara festival in which around one crore people will participate. All the efforts are being made in the district to ensure that nobody makes use of single-use plastic," Reddy added. (ANI)