Mumbai man trades meals for plastic bottles, serves 45,000 plates in bhandup
Mumbai: In Mumbai’s Bhandup, Shakti Yadav’s ‘Buy Food With Plastic’ initiative exchanges 20 plastic bottles for a meal, tackling hunger and waste together.
What began from his lived experience of flooding has now led to 45,000 meals and over 1 lakh plastic items collected and upcycled.
Yadav, 32, grew up watching monsoon drains choke on plastic. “Every July, the water would enter our lane. And every time, it was plastic bottles blocking the flow,” he says. “I kept thinking, what if the bottles had value?”In 2022, he set up a small stall near Bhandup station with a hand-painted board: ‘20 Plastic Bottles = 1 Hot Meal’. The first day, three people showed up. By the end of the week, he was serving 40 meals a day.
The model is simple. Anyone can bring 20 used plastic bottles or equivalent plastic waste. In return, they get a plate of hot, home-style food — usually rice, dal, sabzi, and roti.
The collected plastic is sorted, cleaned, and sent to recycling partners who turn it into benches, bricks, and yarn. Some of it goes to upcycling units that employ local women.
Funding comes from donations, local shopkeepers, and a few corporate CSR tie-ups. A team of six volunteers now helps Yadav cook, serve, and log collections.
