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December 13, 2016

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Home » Metro » Society

Incentives for younger people to think trash

By Hu Min | December 13, 2016, Tuesday | Print Edition

PEOPLE can now use Alipay to collect points for gifts by dumping their rubbish in the right bins.

The incentive comes after Shanghai’s greenery authorities teamed up with Alipay in the latest drive to spur interest in garbage sorting among young people, officials said yesterday.

The points collected can be exchanged for various coupons on Tmall supermarkets and businesses, the Shanghai Greenery and Public Sanitation Bureau said.

The list of the first batch of businesses will be announced next month, it said.

Green account holders earn points by dumping dry and wet garbage into different bins in Shanghai’s “green account” scheme. They can redeem the points for milk, soup, toothpaste, phonecards and tickets to tourist attractions — or use them to pay their utility bills.

Volunteers work in neighborhoods to help people to sort their garbage. They also issue the reward points.

Now citizens can redeem the points via an Alipay app on their mobile phones, rather than doing so in person, according to the bureau.

The gifts distributed by the neighborhood committees will also be expanded to virtual coupons. These are considered to be more convenient and attractive for young people, the bureau said.

“The measure aims to attract more young people to join in the city’s garbage sorting efforts, which proved to be more popular among middle-aged and seniors residents now,” said Qi Yumei, deputy director of the sanitation management department of the bureau.

“Green account has been promoted for more than three years, and has raised people’s awareness on garbage sorting, but the incentives are still limited,” said Qi.

Before gifts were not attractive to youngsters, and could not be redeemed immediately, which also affected enthusiasm, she said.

By cooperating with the online payment platform, the points can be redeemed more quickly with a bigger scope of gifts covered, she added.

To date, more than 2 million households in Shanghai are included in the scheme, with more than 900,000 added this year. The target is 5 million households by 2020.

The amount of domestic garbage being treated per day in Shanghai was estimated at 16,435 tons last year, compared with 18,902 tons in 2011.

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