Cluj-Napoca lures public into plastic or aluminium waste collection in exchange of free bus tickets

Romanian city Cluj-Napoca has recently introduced a new pilot project to induce waste collection and recycling, whereby people have to deposit empty bottles or aluminium cans to get complimentary bus tickets in return. For this, a reverse vending machine is mounted at the Zorilor agro-food market located in the city.

The mayor of Cluj-Napoca, Emil Boc, explained that 15 containers made of glass, plastic, aluminium or any other metal could fetch you a free two-way ticket on the public bus.

Mayor Boc further claimed that another recycling point would be introduced at the Flora food market on the 1st of August in the Mănăștur neighbourhood.

With the world moving towards sustainability, more and more companies are eager to adopt waste recycling as a daily part of their discourse.  Unlike plastic, aluminium can be recycled innumerable times, leaving the composition of the non-ferrous metal intact. Recycling plastic emits a huge amount of toxic gas, whereas the process of aluminium recycling is almost carbon-free.

The recycling scheme is set in a way that people hoping to earn the bus tickets will have to return their recyclables labelled clean without the presence of any liquid or other harmful substances.

Every used product will have to be inserted individually inside the machine, which may take a second or two to detect the inserted material.

The customers who come for exchange will have to press the green button to retrieve their bonus vouchers redeemable for bus tickets. The machine will give out definitive vouchers for specific packaging types.

The vouchers collected through the machine can be redeemed for ticket sales units of the Cluj-Napoca Public Transport Company (CTP).

This is not the first time Cluj-Napoca authorities are encouraging the people of the region to use public transport. One of their last programmes included free bus tickets for residents who could accomplish a 20 squats challenge.