Odisha: Concerned over plastic pollution, woman Sarpanch floats Bartan Bank

 Bhubaneswar: A woman Sarpanch in Odisha’s Nuapada district has adopted a unique approach to make her village and adjoining areas plastic-free. With the help of the villagers, she has made provisions to replace plastic utensils with utensils made of steel and other metals in all the community services.

According to reports, Saroj Devi Agrawal, the Bhaleswar gram panchayat was aghast at seeing the rising plastic pollution in her areas, especially after community feasts. So she decided to float an organisation that can supply utensils that can be used in place of plastic cups and plates. With the help of her fellow villagers, she created ‘Bartan Bank’ or utensils bank.

Under this initiative, the villagers can collect kitchen cookware, utensils, tools and supplies from the Bartan Bank with a marginal rent and return the same soon after community feasts are over.

The users are asked to bear the cost if there is any damage to the utensils.

“The purpose of starting such a bank is to discourage people from using plastic utensils that severely affect our environment. Unabated use of plastic results in sickness of cattle that ingest it. Besides, it leads to reduced fertility of farmlands and illness in people. Steel and aluminium utensils will help reduce the usage of plastics to some extent,” said Agrawal.

Sarapanch is an elected representative who heads a gram panchayat at rural level.

Brahmananda Marar, a local resident, said people with low-income find the Bartan Bank very useful as they avail the utensils at nominal rents. “Since many of the local people hail from weak financial backgrounds, they often find it hard to buy single-use plastic cups and plates for community feasts. Therefore, we decided to raise Bartan Bank which can come in handy at the time of necessity,” said Marar.       

The villagers, inspired by the Sarapanch, collected from Rs 50 to Rs 200 as donations from individuals and procured utensils for the bank.

A user has to pay between Rs 200 to Rs 500 depending upon the quantity of the utensils he hires. The amount is quite low considering the fact that not less than Rs 5,000 is spent on buying plastic and thermocol utensils for throwing a community feast for five hundred persons.

The Bartan Bank inventory includes 150 plates, 150 bowls, as many glasses and other large utensils to cook a feast for 150 people.

Agrawal now plans to replicate the bank in nearby areas.