Residents can buy rice, eggs, fish in exchange for plastic waste in Dhaka

The exchange rate starts at one kilogramme of plastic waste, for which residents can receive rice and eggs. Those who collect five to six kilogrammes can exchange the waste for either pangas fish, soybean oil or a broiler chicken.

A temporary market set up by the DSCC in Kamrangirchar has drawn long queues of residents carrying bags filled with plastic waste. Some collected the waste from the streets, while others brought it from their homes.

Instead of paying cash, shoppers at the market use plastic waste as currency.

One school student welcomed the initiative, saying it was helping make Kamrangirchar cleaner while allowing residents to receive food in return for waste.

The DSCC is organising the special market once a week in different parts of the capital as part of an effort to discourage people from dumping plastic waste indiscriminately.

Under the programme, six kilogrammes of plastic waste can be exchanged for one broiler chicken. Five kilogrammes can fetch one to 1.5 kilogrammes of pangas fish or one kilogramme of soybean oil.

City corporation officials said plastic bottles and polythene are among the biggest waste-management challenges facing Dhaka. The initiative is aimed at encouraging residents to collect and properly dispose of plastic rather than throwing it on streets, drains and other public spaces.