‘It makes all the difference in our lives’

“Garbage cafes” are emerging across India, per the BBC — and while the moniker is admittedly not all that palatable, it also doesn’t do the concept justice.

Nevertheless, it’s fitting.

Garbage cafes in India are not a new thing. Back in July 2019, the World Economic Forum heralded the debut of India’s very first such establishment in the city of Ambikapur.

In that coverage, the WEF presented two relevant statistics. The first was that more than half of India’s population of 1.2 billion (closer to 1.5 billion today) lived in poverty, and the second pertained to plastic pollution.

It cited a Times of India article from January of that year about the staggering amount of plastic waste generated in the country each day — approximately 26,000 metric tons (28,660 U.S. tons), 40% of which is “uncollected,” contaminating cities and the country’s waterways.

At first glance, those are two distinct challenges without an obvious way to proverbially kill two birds with one stone. Garbage cafes tackle both issues in an exceptionally smart fashion.

The system is as simple as it is clever: In exchange for 1 kilogram (2.2 pounds) of collected plastic waste, patrons receive “a full meal that includes rice, two vegetable curries, dal, roti, salad and pickles,” according to the BBC.

For 0.5 kilogram of plastic (a little over 1 pound), patrons can purchase breakfast, which the Ambikapur cafe’s manager, Vinod Kumar Patel, said is typically “samosas or vada pav,” the latter a popular potato-based street food often dubbed the “Indian burger.”

Garbage cafes embody the concept of a circular economy — emphasizing sustainability, reducing waste, and compensating patrons with food in exchange for collecting plastic trash.

Sharada Singh Patel has worked at Ambikapur’s garbage cafe since it opened in 2019, and she lauded the concept for “not only helping to fill empty stomachs but also contributing to cleaning up the environment,” per the BBC.

Those efforts can be measured beyond the number of meals served daily, which Vinod Patel placed at about 20. Since the garbage cafe opened its doors in Ambikapur six years ago, there’s been a measurable decrease in plastic waste.

In all, the garbage cafe has diverted 23 metric tons of plastic waste since its inception. According to the BBC, the amount of plastic headed to landfills dropped from 5.4 metric tons a year in 2019 to 2 metric tons by 2024 (roughly 6 to 2.2 in U.S. tons).

Rashmi Mondal lives near Ambikapur’s garbage cafe, and she told the BBC she’d been collecting plastic daily “for years.” She didn’t start collecting plastic because of the cafe; prior to its establishment, she sold plastic debris to scrap dealers for literally pennies.

Mondal said the garbage cafe has had a massive impact on her family’s well-being, changing their lives for the better.

“Now, I can get food for my family in exchange for the plastic I collect. It makes all the difference in our lives,” she explained.

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