Ramgarh couple gifts plants in exchange for plastic waste

Ranchi: A 52-year-old tutor who prepares students for competitive examinations, and his wife, 49, have been motivating people in Ramgarh district to protect environment through an innovative exchange programme — plastic waste for plants — for the past 13 years.Under the unique initiative of Upendra Pandey and his wife, Satbinder, residents can hand over plastic waste and receive a plant of their choice in return. The idea, the couple said, is to discourage people from littering.“We started this initiative after a trip to Delhi in Dec 2013. At the time, the national capital’s alarming pollution levels were making headlines. We experienced the poor air quality ourselves.

When we returned to Ramgarh, we felt we had to do something for environmental protection. That’s when we came up with the idea of collecting plastic waste from people and giving them plants in return to encourage responsible disposal,” Satbinder said.The initiative initially found a chord only with ragpickers and domestic helps, who deposited plastic with the Pandeys and took plants in return.“Plastic waste often ends up in landfills, drains and water bodies, causing serious environmental damage.

We wanted to give people a reason to collect and hand it over instead of discarding it carelessly. Gradually the word spread among residents, and the initiative gained momentum. We have distributed over 2 lakh ornamental plants till date,” Upendra said.The couple ensures that all the plastic they collect is handed over to the Ramgarh Nagar Parishad for recycling without any fee.Roshan Kumar, sanitation supervisor with the civic body, said that they collected at least 300 kg of plastic from the Pandeys on a single visit.

“When a significant quantity of plastic gathers, they call us. We collect the plastic, recycle them and later use it for road construction, mixing it with bitumen. They do not take any fee in exchange for the plastic,” Roshan added.Most of the saplings distributed are not purchased. Instead, the couple nurtures and grows them at their home before gifting them to participants. Over the years, their residence has gradually transformed into a small nursery, producing a variety of plants.Apart from this initiative, they are also promoting use of cloth bags through, ‘selfies with jhola’. They made over 45,000 cloth bags with the help of school students, aiming to discourage use of plastic bags.The couple was recently awarded as ‘green warriors’ at a programme in Ranchi by the Centre for Environment and Energy Development, a Jharkhand-based organisation working in climate and energy transition fields.