We 're all being urged to recycle more and for many of us this is now a habitual part of everyday life. However with landfills overflowing and the potential for many more products to be reused do we need greater incentives for more of us to recycle?
Currently most of us pay for our rubbish and recycling to be collected from the roadside. Some parts of the UK have recycling credit schemes but these generally relate to third party recycling groups, rather than the individual householder. Is it time to rethink and be paid to recycle? Beijing thinks so.
'Residents of Beijing can use one of the city’s 34 newly installed recycling machines to trade empty bottles for phone card rebates or free public transit passes.
Those who choose the phone card rebate just need to type in their phone numbers or scan their cards and the rebate will be automatically applied.
The value of the rebate will correspond to the value of the type of bottle that was recycled. The machines are equipped with scanners to identify the material from which the recycled bottles are made.
At present, Beijing recycles 15,000 tons of bottles per year, which is equivalent to nine tons’ worth of reduced carbon dioxide emissions.
These numbers are expected to exponentially increase as a result of the new machines, some of which are located close to major tourist destinations such as the Temple of Heaven, where around 60,000 people pass by every day.
Recycling enthusiasts with no need for a free transit pass or a phone card rebate can simply recycle their bottles and leave.' www.pangeatoday.com/get-free-public-transit-pass-or-phone-rebate-for-recycling/?region=asia&order...
Would this be too costly to set up and manage? Would this incentivise recycling thus reduce landfill sites? Are we already doing enough? What do you think?
Image: usa.chinadaily.com.cn/china/attachement/jpg/site1/20131114/180373d2873013ef469306.jpg