Govind Tekale
Plastic is harmful for the environment as it cannot be recycled easily. So it was pleasant news when there was a slogan: “Give plastic and take away sugar.”
The Bhokani village in Sinnar Taluka of Nashik District gave this attractive call to the villagers to make Bhokani free of plastic. The village has a population of 3,000. The village comes under a rain shadow. As a result, this village has been surviving on dryland farming.
It did not curse either the state government or their fate. Instead, the village adopted innovative ideas to overcome the paucity of rainfall. The slogan “Give plastic and take away sugar” is one of those novel ideas to make the village free from plastic.
Last year Bhokani was awarded a 50 lakh award under the government scheme “Mazi Vasundhara,” or “My Earth.” This gave a new boost to the village’s determination for ecological efforts. A “plastic crushing machine” was purchased with the help of CSR of village cooperative credit society.
The single-use plastic is collected and it is sold for reuse. The village gets some money from this project. The village got the award for this initiative. So an attractive scheme of giving sugar in exchange for plastic was launched.
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This is the innovation of Arun Wagh and his wife, who had been the Sarpanch of Bhokani alternately for the last 15 years. This scheme is funded by the Wagh couple out of their own income. Half a kilos of sugar is given for a kilos of plastic. It has gotten a very favorable response.
The Wagh couple’s unique scheme became immensely popular in Sinnar Taluka. This is a positive action for ecological balance. Similar efforts are made by Sheetal Sonawane of “Creative Kutir” in Nashik. The solid and wet waste is collected by this NGO.
