Plastic Man: Kashmiri Sarpanch Launches Unique Campaign, Gold for Trash

A sarpanch of a village in Jammu and Kashmir’s Anantnag district has found a novel idea to keep his village plastic-free. In a bid to prevent people of his Sadiwara village from throwing polythene bags on streets and in water bodies, Farooq Ahmad Ganai is giving gold coins in exchange for plastic waste. 

50-year-old Ganai, who is a lawyer by profession, is getting a positive response to his ‘Give Plastic and Take Gold’ campaign. However, there’s a catch. To earn a gold coin, a person needs to bring 200 kg of plastic waste. The village sarpanch told media persons that he was concerned about fields and water bodies getting littered with plastic waste. 

“I am offering gold coins to anybody in exchange for one quintal of plastic and polythene,” Ganai said.

He said the deputy commissioner has declared the Sadiwara village plastic-free. He is hoping to see a green village tag for Sadiwara soon. The sarpanch said he is determined to take this campaign  first to all the districts of Jammu and Kashmir and later popularize this campaign in the entire country. 

Panchayat Halqa Sadiwara A Block Hiller going to be the first polythene free, Garbage free, green village Panchayat of J&K where wef March complete ban on single use polythene going to be in place.
Highly thankful to DC Anantnag #polythene #plastic #Sadiwara-A #Hiller #Anantnag pic.twitter.com/ENksS2VlnP

— GRAM PANCHAYAAT SADIWARA A (@GPSadiwaraA) February 20, 2023

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