The idea of Garbage Cafè, hailing from India: free food in exchange for plastic and polluting waste

In a time of plastic-free campaigns (more or less virtuous), India pitches in with the opening of a Garbage Cafè, recently inaugurated in the Ambikapur district. The restaurant, destined to feed the less affluent for free, will also serve to raise awareness among the local population on the importance of recycling. To guarantee a meal, in fact, customers are asked to deliver plastic collected on the street or in excess: a kilo of plastic entitles them to a full meal, half a kilo for a free breakfast.

This project comes directly from the municipal administration: since it launched a program to rid the city of waste, the mayor has collected almost 20,000 Euro a month in the public coffers selling recycled plastic and paper to private companies. The model has already worked in other countries, from Belgium to Cambodia.

Is it a model that's destined to spread?