Summary The restaurant goes by the name Methane Gas Canteen.
SEMARANG (Daily Dunya) - An extraordinary restaurant in Indonesia offers food to poverty trapped people in exchange of plastic waste.
The restaurant which goes by the name Methane Gas Canteen is run by a couple Sarimin and Suyatmi.
What shocking is that the restaurant is located in Jatibarang Landfill in Semarang, Central Java, a mountain of putrifying waste, where poor locals spend their days scavenging plastic and glass to sell.
The couple was in the same business before but then thought of opening a restaurant and is now cooking. Customers pay no cash for the meal but instead give recyclable waste which is weighed to calculate its cost.
The value of the meal is then deducted from the cost of the plastic while the surplus amount is refunded to the customer. The amazing move is an effort to reduce waste in the landfill and recycle non-degradable plastics.
“I think we recycle 1 tonne of plastic waste a day, which is a lot. This way, the plastic waste doesnt pile up, drift down the river and cause flooding,” said Sarimin in an interview with Channel News Asia, “This doesnt only benefit the scavengers, it benefits everyone.”
The restaurant seats about 30 people and serves meals that cost between $0.40 and $0.80 (USD) each. Some of the dishes on offer are mangut rice with catfish, vegetable soups, and rice with boiled egg, among other traditional recipes.
Since opening the canteen Sarimin and Suyatmi have seen their daily income more than double to $15 (USD) a day, compared to when they relied solely on scavenging.
