A unique'bank' in India that dumps plastic waste instead of money has emerged.

On the 11th local time, foreign media such as India Today reported that a civic group in the Burdwan district of West Bengal opened a so-called'plastic bank' and is being greeted by nearby residents.

People who visit this bank do business with plastic waste, not money. People who appear with a lot of trash carry something with both hands on their way back, and the identity of that is none other than a mask and hand sanitizer.


'Plastic Bank' pays 2 masks and 1L of hand sanitizer for every 5kg of plastic trash people bring. And the plastics collected in this way are reborn into eco-friendly plastic bricks.

In order to preserve nature, the bank started to accept not only plastic waste, but also pots containing plants. Plants brought by people are planted and cared for by civic groups along rivers and roads.


There is one more important reason civic groups started this project. It creates an opportunity for the poor, who can't afford to buy something in a retail store, to get masks and hand sanitizers.

For those who couldn't even bring plastic and plant pots, we gave them a mask and hand sanitizer for only Rs 49 (about 800 won). The cheapest hand sanitizer in India is Rs 200 (about 3,200 won), which is much cheaper than that.


"We have collected all the water bottles and plastic trash thrown away on the road," said Mr. Vicheswar, a visitor to the bank. "I was delighted.

"We opened this bank in the sense of protecting the environment and preventing Corona 19 at the same time," said Sandypan Sarkar, the general secretary of a civic group. "We plan to operate the project until the corona 19 crisis is over."

This is'News Pick'.

(Photo ='India Today' homepage capture,'Sandipan Sarkar' Facebook)