Phase II of rice-for-plastic drive set to begin in Ambala

Nitish Sharma

Tribune News Service

Ambala, October 26

Aiming to make Ambala plastic-free, the local administration is all set to begin the second phase of the rice-for-plastic drive in the district from this week.

The drive was first introduced in November last year and later extended to village level in which nearly 20 tonnes of single-use plastic waste was gathered and as much rice was given to ragpickers for its collection. The collected material was later sent to make renewable energy at a plant in Mullana.

Speaking to The Tribune Deputy Commissioner Ashok Sharma said, “The drive got a good response, especially in rural areas. We have decided to begin the second phase of the drive for which directions have been issued to the municipal officials in the district. Like previous year, anybody who brings 1 kg single-use plastic will be given 1 kg rice in exchange. Another component being introduced this year will be that certain areas will be identified and the ragpickers would be given an opportunity to adopt small drains and sections of roads from where they will collect single-use plastic, keep the adopted areas single-use plastic free, and would be given 1.25 kg rice against 1kg plastic collected from the identified areas. It will help the administration in collecting single-use plastic and keeping the areas clean.”

“Due to Covid, the consumption of mineral water bottles, usage of sanitisers and masks has gone up. It has posed a big challenge for us but we will try to get maximum of the used bottles collected. Later the collected material will be sent at a plant for scientific disposal. The officials will also ensure that the plastic received is dumped timely so that there is no scope for producing the same stock again to get rice. The aim is to make the district single-use plastic free, and make people aware about its ill-effects,” he added.