Plastic is just the ticket if you want to ride the buses of Surabaya. Bus commuters can pay their fare with used plastic bottles in Indonesia's second city.
A two-hour bus ticket costs 10 plastic cups or up to five plastic bottles, depending on their size. This could help the city achieve its aim to be free of plastic waste by 2020.
RESIDENT OF SURABAYA, LINDA RAHMAWATI, SAYING:
"Garbage like plastic bottles piles up in my neighbourhood, so I brought them here so the environment is not only cleaner, but it will also help to ease the workload of garbage collectors."
RESIDENT OF SURABAYA, SULASTRI, SAYING:
"We can reduce trash so it doesn't pile up at home because we can just bring them here and make good use of it. It is a win-win situation."
Commuters drop their plastic off at bus terminals or "pay" their fare on the bus.
City data shows 250kg of plastic bottles can be collected a day this way - the equivalent of 7.5 tonnes a month.
The bottles are auctioned off to recycling companies, helping fund bus operations and green spaces in the city.
HEAD OF TRANSPORTATION DEPARTMENT OF SURABAYA CITY, IRVAN WAHYU DRAJAD, SAYING:
"Indonesia is one of the biggest contributor in the world for plastic waste and through this initiative we hope to raise public awareness of the environment, especially issues that relate to plastic trash."
A 2015 study found that Indonesia was the second-largest contributor of plastic pollutants in the oceans in the world, after China. (Reuters)
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