The municipality of Ramnagar in Nainital district is going to start Donate Waste, Get Food campaign in the first week of the new year.

Under this campaign, a meal will be made available to those persons who will donate 500 grammes of non-biodegradable waste or 500 grammes of household hazardous waste in the collection centre of the municipal corporation. The food will be made available at Indira Amma canteen which is being run by self-help groups inside the municipality’s campus.

After the garbage is donated, the person will be provided with a coupon to buy food. The campaign is being undertaken to promote the collection of non-biodegradable garbage by the municipality.

Providing quality food at prescribed Government rates will give a boost to the decentralised efforts of the municipality to manage solid waste and will also help in achieving the idea of a welfare state by feeding the poor and needy. Under the scheme, the general public who is not willing to have food can donate the coupons issued by the municipality to the needy ones.

With the implementation of the scheme, the self-help group which operates Indira Amma canteen will be paid for providing food to these people. The municipality will pay for the coupons on monthly basis. The scheme will also help the self help group as this will increase its monthly income.

The municipality executive officer Bharat Tripathi has appealed to the public to provide its full support in the efforts of municipality to free the town from hazardous waste and also to provide food to destitute and needy people. Tripathi said that garbage is a resource and everyone must participate in the ‘Donate Waste, Get Food’ campaign by donating non-biodegradable and hazardous waste like LEDs, bulbs, CFLs, electronic items which is produced in homes, offices, educational institutions and commercial establishments.

He said that by collecting non-biodegradable waste and making it available in the alternative garbage collection company located in the municipality’s campus, the city will benefit both ways, with making the city garbage free to feeding the needy.

He also informed that the campaign is being initiated by the decentralised efforts of the municipality under the provisions of Solid Waste Management Rules, 2016.