If you are from Boduppal in the Medchal district of Telangana and have plastic piling up at home, get minimum one kg of it to the Boduppal Municipality Office tomorrow, between 9 am to 1 pm, and in exchange, take back a kg of rice or six eggs. Cool, right? Behind this noble move, reminiscent and inspired by the initiative carried out in Mulugu by the collector, are Mamidala Prashanth, Venkata Chary and Saini Naveen.

Not only will they take the discarded single-use plastics off your hands, they will give it away to Crapbin, an organisation which will help them recycle all that plastic. Sounds like a good deal, doesn't it?

Plastic, plastic, everywhere
Mamidala Prashanth has extensively worked for cleaning up lakes — Rama Cheruvu, Boduppal; Annarayani Cheruvu, Nagaram and many others. He continues to meet officials for it, for example, he has met the Medchal MLA, Malla Reddy, who offered him full support. So, you see, plastic and Prashanth go way back. He has spent considerable time picking up plastic, so he recently started wondering, what can be done to deal with the plastic permanently. And while at it, help others deal with it too. Hence, Prashanth, who works as a Project Manager in Netcracker Technology, an IT firm situated in HITEC City, initiated this exchange.

Venkata Chary, Mamidala Prashanth and Saini Naveen

   
"We extensively distributed pamphlets, especially in slums. And, of course, we circulated the message on social media and through WhatsApp messages as well," says Prashanth who was born and brought up in Hyderabad and has been living in Boduppal since five years now. He has worked for the NGO Helping Hands Humanity as well. Venkata Chary and Saini Naveen are localities and have helped Prashanth understand the nitty-gritty of the area better.
   
Sugar. Yes, please
So, how many people is Prashanth expecting? "I received enthusiastic WhatsApp messages saying, 'We will get 100 kgs of plastic'," shares the 38-year-old, who dedicates his weekends to social service, and laughs. He states that if they get 20 kgs, he will be satisfied. Friends and residents of Boduppal have helped Prashanth gather the funds for rice and eggs which will be bartered for single-use plastic. A sweet soul has even promised to get sugar if things go well.

To make this a regular event, Prashanth wants to put up cloth banners in the locality and spread awareness to every nook and corner of the locality so that the menace of plastic is at least somewhat reduced.