Subway passengers to get award for recycling
Source: Xinhua |
December 15, 2012, Saturday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
BEIJING commuters will soon benefit directly from environmentally friendly behavior, as four machines have been installed in two subway stations in the city to collect discarded bottles and pay out credit toward travel passes in return.
The ATM-like automated collectors were placed this week at Jinsong and Shaoyaoju stations on Line 10. When put into operation next week, they will allow commuters to exchange plastic containers for between 0.10 yuan (1.6 US cents) and 0.05 yuan based on the donation's capacity.
Bottles gathered will be crunched to a third of their original size and stored in the machine before being sent to local factories for further recycling, a technician from operating company Incom said.
Under current subway costs, travelers will be able to enjoy a free ride for as few as every 20 bottles donated.
Chang expected the "automated scavengers" to reduce the cost of the collecting process, as the company used to offer much higher prices to gather raw materials from individuals collecting scrap on an informal basis. He estimated the cost will be cut by 10 percent with 1,000 machines.
Cheng Huiqiang, a waste-trade expert, said some 3 million tons of plastic bottles are abandoned in China each year. If all this waste is collected and recycled properly, the country will save 18 million tons of crude oil.
"If we can make full use of every discarded bottle, it will be equivalent to discovering a new oil field," according to Incom's Chang.
The ATM-like automated collectors were placed this week at Jinsong and Shaoyaoju stations on Line 10. When put into operation next week, they will allow commuters to exchange plastic containers for between 0.10 yuan (1.6 US cents) and 0.05 yuan based on the donation's capacity.
Bottles gathered will be crunched to a third of their original size and stored in the machine before being sent to local factories for further recycling, a technician from operating company Incom said.
Under current subway costs, travelers will be able to enjoy a free ride for as few as every 20 bottles donated.
Chang expected the "automated scavengers" to reduce the cost of the collecting process, as the company used to offer much higher prices to gather raw materials from individuals collecting scrap on an informal basis. He estimated the cost will be cut by 10 percent with 1,000 machines.
Cheng Huiqiang, a waste-trade expert, said some 3 million tons of plastic bottles are abandoned in China each year. If all this waste is collected and recycled properly, the country will save 18 million tons of crude oil.
"If we can make full use of every discarded bottle, it will be equivalent to discovering a new oil field," according to Incom's Chang.
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