Swap your plastic bottles for transit credits, saving the environment — and cash — in the process.
It's a new 12-month recycling pilot programme in Rome, Italy that hopes to revolutionise the way people commute, buoyed by the success of a similar scheme in Istanbul, Turkey.
"At three stations in Rome – Cipro on the A line, Piramide on the B line and San Giovanni on the C line – commuters can recycle plastic bottles in reverse vending machines in exchange for credits that can be used towards bus and metro tickets," according to Lonely Planet.
Launched in July 2019 by the capital city's mayor, Virginia Raggi, and Rome’s transport network Atac, the eco-friendly initiative will remain in place for a year, to test its popularity with commuters. It's called Ricicli + Viaggi in Italian, which translates to "Recycle + Travel".
For each bottle recycled (any size from 250ml to 2L), people will receive a credit of five cents (ie. if you recycle 30 bottles, you'll receive a standard €1.50 ticket).
Once the bottles are pushed through the vending machine (where they're crushed and sorted), commuters receive credits, which can be redeemed through the myCicero and Tabnet apps.
Italy is currently ranked the 4th "most wasteful" country in Europe, according to a 2017 report by the consultancy group Expert Market.
"In a period in which crypto-currency is talked about, we have plastic currency," explains Paolo Simoni, president of Atac. “Substantially, it’s a system in which one recycles, we build customer loyalty and citizens’ virtuous behaviour is rewarded.”