These cafes are setting an example with their unique waste management initiatives

In an overpopulated country like India, waste management is a huge concern. On a daily basis, the country produces about 62 million tonnes of both wet and dry waste. While wet waste is mostly organic residue, dry waste comprises anything that is non-biodegradable, especially plastics.

But all hope is not lost. One can tackle the waste management issue in many ways, and take steps to prevent plastic waste from getting dumped in landfills. Further, the government, private entities, and many individuals have implemented certain initiatives to handle waste responsibly. For instance, one could avail of free meals in exchange for plastic waste. 

SocialStory has curated a list of cafes that have implemented such initiatives in India to manage waste effectively:

Ambikapur’s Garbage Cafe

Claimed to be the first of its kind in India, Garbage Café at Ambikapur, a city in the Surat district of Chhattisgarh, offers meals to ragpickers and the homeless, in exchange for plastic waste. 

According to Vice, the café is run by Ambikapur’s municipal corporation, which provides a free meal for every kilo of trash a person can provide, and free breakfast for 500 grams of waste collected. Moving forward, the civic body aims to provide shelters to these people.

The corporation plans to use the collected plastic waste to construct roads in the city. In fact, this won’t be the first time this city reuses plastics, as earlier, it had built an entire stretch of road from eight lakh plastic bags mixed with asphalt.

Odisha’s Garbage Cafe

Inspired by the initiative in Chhattisgarh, the neighbouring state of Odisha has recently launched a similar outlet, where one can get a Rs 5 meal in exchange for a kilogram of plastic waste. 

Standing for a barter system that is both charitable and responsible, this initiative has been rolled out under the State government’s Aahar scheme and was flagged off by the Kotpad Notified Area Council (NAC) in the Koraput district. A town known for its handloom products, Koraput is now spearheading the drive in the state. 

The beneficiaries of this café collect polythene bags, plastic bottles, and cups, and deposit at the café for the meal, officials said. 

Unique Cafe - Gujarat

Located in tribal-dominated Dahod district in Gujarat, Unique Cafe too, offers free snacks for one kilogram of plastic waste. If you offer half-a-kilogram of plastic, then you get a cup of tea in return for free. 

The main purpose of this initiative is to take the government-led Swachh Bharat Abhiyaan scheme to the rural areas and encourage people to keep their surroundings clean.

According to officials, the cafe has been receiving a substantial amount of plastic waste since it started this initiative. The plastic is later sent for recycling. If the café becomes successful, this model will be replicated in other tehsils in the district, as well.

Swachhta Meerut’s Waste to Food Cafe

Touted as India’s first self-sustainable garbage café, Swachhta Meerut’s Waste to Food Café works on a unique barter system that exchanges waste items for a free meal. 

The café considers the poor and homeless families of ragpickers who clean the city waste as the silent warriors of the Swachhta mission and provides them with healthy food. 

Half a kilo of waste materials like plastic, paper, cardboard, tin cans, glass items, etc., will get one a plate of a meal, and for one kilogram of waste, the person can get two meals. 

The café is solving the two biggest problems of the nation – waste management and hunger. Swachhta Meerut is an initiative where waste pickers, socialists, and every individual work towards enhancing integrated waste management in Meerut. It supports both “Swachh Bharat Mission”, as well as “Fight Against Hunger” schemes. 

The café started with “alternate waste collection drive” where one could bring alternate household waste materials, which otherwise one would not know how to dispose of like old clothes, toys, books, and e-waste. The alternate waste items collected are distributed among the slum kids for their better education and standard of living.

Cardboard - Mumbai

While many cafes are offering free meals in exchange for waste, this cafe in Mumbai has emerged from it. In other words, the entire cafe is built out of recycled cardboard materials.

Everything in the café – starting from its furniture, light fixtures, signage, cutlery, etc. – are made out of cardboard. Founded by 32-year-old chef-turned-author, Amit Dhanani, the café is designed and conceived by architect Nuru Karim and is located in the Bandra Kurla Complex (BKC) in Mumbai. 

Known as the Cardboard, the café is spread over 40,000 sqft made of cardboard and was built in just seven months. It also promotes using eco-friendly and recyclable materials, as well as vegan food.

(Edited by Suman Singh)