Collect Plastic, Get Ration!

We are pleased to announce our new initiative- Project Two Good! 

Since the start of the lockdown, Green Communities Foundation (GCF) has been engaged in providing relief packages to needy families in Mumbai city. 

An effort and need we thought would be temporary (just like the lockdown), snowballed (just like the lockdown). 

Nearly 7 months in, we have effected the distribution of nearly 18,000 relief kits to at-risk families all over the city. While the city tries to inch back to “normalcy”, the issues being faced by the underprivileged communities persist.

Through our experiences and the new bonds forged with the community on ground, we learnt a lot about the unique challenges being faced by low/ no income households in these times. 

One of them continues to be effective waste management. Even prior to the pandemic, low value plastics were widely littered, burnt or dumped. With the onset of the monsoons, the problems are aggravated, not the least of them being clogging of drains and gutters leading to increased water logging in needy communities. 

Naturally, GCF (an NGO focussed on waste management) decided to merge efforts and thus was born Project Two Goodwith the idea of solving two problems at once

An initiative where the community is encouraged to collect and store all post consumer plastic waste (such as food packets and containers, thin plastics, bottles, sachets, MLP, etc.) [Good 1] which can then be exchanged for an equivalent quantity of dry ration [Good 2]. 

Simple & awesome? We think so too!

Collaborating with UNDP

Owing to UNDP’s legitimacy, motivations similar to ours, wide network in the social sector and particular efforts in the sustainability and waste management industry which GCF has been privy to, we have partnered with UNDP for Project Two Good. The said collaboration would hasten the pace of impact that can be achieved through the Project, and could be implemented all over Mumbai city.

How does it Work?

  • Low-income communities are encouraged to collect & store all post consumer plastic waste generated by them – with a focus on low value or non saleable plastic (such as polythene bags, thin plastics, MLP, etc.). This will be implemented across Mumbai. 
  • This waste is then brought to a central point in the community, where it is weighed and collected. 
  • Using the formula 1 kg plastic waste = 1 kg dry ration, beneficiaries are provided with mixed ration for the amount of plastic waste brought in by them. This may include grains, pulses, flour, etc.
  • The plastic waste collected is picked up by our partner recycler and sent for responsible recycling/ co-processing.

How can you help?

GCF has calculated that the per kg cost for the project would be INR 100/-. For e.g.- To remove 100 kg of low value plastic waste from our environment and provide 100 kg of ration to needy families, the cost would be INR 10,000/-.  

GCF has already collected 250 kg of plastic waste in the last two months and donated 250 kg ration. We now aim to collect 15 tons of plastic waste and donate 15 tons of ration to the needy over the next 6 months. 

We have created a fundraiser for the same in partnership with Give India.

Do support us for the same using the following link:

https://fundraisers.giveindia.org/campaigns/project-two-good

Thank you for your support!