Since 2012, the Chinese company INCOM has installed recycling points for plastic bottles in the corridors of the Beijing metro. These are designed to recover plastic bottles, whilst giving a reward to travellers for each bottle dropped off. The user sees his transport card credited with a few yuan, which can then be used to buy public transport tickets. In less than 20 seconds, the bottle is crushed by the machine, and the person can take his card. However, no less than 20 bottles are required for the equivalent of a metro ticket.
The bottles to be recycled are sorted, washed and recycled where possible. The circuit installed by INCOM contributes to the total recovery of 50,000 tonnes of plastic bottles each year in Beijing.
For the moment the system only exists on line 10 of the metro, but will be extended to other sectors of activity. “We aim to install 3,000 similar recycling points across the city. We will extend the system to other metro lines, residential zones, bus stops and shopping centres", explains Liu Xuesong, Deputy Director for the Company. In addition, the recycling points could be modified to recover other recyclable objects.
The Antartico beer brand installed similar recycling points during the Rio carnaval. These, however, gave free access to the metro for an empty beer can, in an aim to fight against the road safety problem.
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