AMBIKAPUR: Anyone can now walk in with a load of plastic and be treated with a free meal. Nation’s unique restaurant — “Garbage Cafe” was inaugurated by the state health minister T S Singhdeo on Wednesday, in Ambikapur town, north Chhattisgarh, some 300 km from the state capital Raipur has come up with a unique innovation to make people cheerfully join the campaign aimed to free India of plastic menace.
Ownership of the restaurant, just beside the busy Ambikapur bus stand, remains with the Municipal Corporation that has outsourced it to a private firm on contract.
The aim is to create plastic-free Ambikapur, a town rated as the country’s second cleanest city and bestowed with the Swachh Sarvekshan award 2019. It provides hygienic food with a menu as diverse as it can be, said the Ambikapur district collector Saransh Mittar.
People, who pick up plastic waste can now cart them to a Solid and Liquid Resource Management (SLRM) Centre, 150 metres away from the restaurant and get a token worth Rs 40 or Rs 60 for every 500 gram of plastic donated.
The tokens are valid for a month. There are two types of coloured tokens — one for breakfast and another for a meal.
The value of token for breakfast is Rs 40 and for a meal (lunch or dinner) Rs 60.
A minimum food item against one garbage token has been specified by the Ambikapur municipal corporation.
A meal on token will have 4 chapatis, one plate rice, two vegetables, dal, papad and salad. More food items listed in the restaurant can be taken paying two or three tokens at the counter. Breakfast menu comprises of south Indian, Chinese and other varieties of dishes.
In the cafe at least two tables will always remain reserved for those visiting with plastic disposal tokens. The location of the restaurant was chosen to generate awareness against the plastic, Mittar added.