An Indonesian city has come up with an innovative way to encourage its residents to recycle waste by giving them free bus tickets for the delivery of used plastic bottles.
Under the initiative of the city of Surabaya, Indonesia's second largest city, in April, passengers can use the city's red buses free of charge, handing plastic bottles at stations, or using bottles directly in the "pay" of the taxi.
A two-hour bus ride costs ten plastic cups, or five plastic bottles depending on their size.
The city hopes that this initiative will help it achieve its goal of becoming a city free of plastic waste by 2020.
Surabaya is the first city in Indonesia to implement this project.
"Trash like plastic bottles is accumulating in my residential area and then brought here to make the environment cleaner, but also to reduce the burden on garbage collectors," said Surabaya resident Linda Rahwati.
City statistics show that 15 percent or about 400 tonnes of daily waste in Surabaya is plastic.
The data shows that a single bus can collect up to 250 kg of plastic bottles per day, or about 7.5 tons per month.
After collecting the bottles, the names and the nozzles are removed and put up at auction for the recycling companies.
Auction revenues are allocated to the management of bus businesses and to financing green areas in the city on the far east of Java Island, Indonesia's largest island.
"Indonesia is one of the world's largest contributors to plastic waste, and through this initiative, we hope to increase public awareness of the environment, especially issues related to plastic waste," said Irfan Wahio Drajad, head of transport at Surabaya.
