NOIDA: To discourage the use of single-use plastic or thermocol plates for community events, the RWA of a housing society in Noida launched an utensil bank that lends dishes, spoons and glasses free of cost to the residents for holding social gatherings and bhandaras. The RWA of Century Apartments in Sector 100 also launched similar banks for clothes, books and cloth bags.
The book bank contains about 1,000 books even as about 100-150 are donated everyday. These books are related to competitive exams like the civil services, engineering and law, apart from academic and children’s books. Exchange of books is also allowed in the bank as per individual requirement. Similarly, the clothes bank contains unused clothes for use by people belonging to the economically weaker section.
Pawan Yadav, RWA president, said, “We have about 1,500-1,600 residents across the 400 flats in our society. The idea to start these banks was to take small steps at preventing the use of thermocol and plastic items used during functions. Also, by providing cloth bags at the entry gate, we are making efforts to inculcate the habit of discarding plastic bags among our society residents when buying groceries or milk.”
While the utensil bank has about 350 plates, glasses and spoons, these can be taken by any resident free of charge for social and religious functions. “The utensil bank is to encourage residents to stop the use of thermocol plates and plastic glasses and cups in the society. The utensils need to be returned clean to the bank after use,” said Yadav.
Similarly, for the cloth bag bank, the RWA has engaged a local tailor to make the same out of unused clothes at nominal charges of Rs 10-15 each. These are kept in the RWA office and at the entry gate, for the residents to use when they step out to buy their daily groceries or milk. The RWA has also kept a box in its office where people can drop unused clothes which can be donated to anyone in need.
The RWA has also set up a waste material bank that collects all kinds of waste for recycling and reusing the same to beautify the society. “It’s a good step as we not only learn not to waste things, which can be of use to others, but also how to keep our environment clean,” said Anil Kumar, a resident of the society.
