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Trash for cash: Apps promote recycling through monetary rewards
A newly developed app called e-Recycle makes waste management easier for the residents of Jakarta, a city that produces approximately 7,700 tons of waste per day. The app offers door-to-door waste collection services that allow residents to exchange their recyclable waste for cash.
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Struggle for life: Scavengers sort through garbage at the Bantar Gebang landfill in Bekasi, West Java. (Tempo/-)
F
or many people, waste management is still considered a bothersome chore. For others, however, recycling brings them rewards, such as cash and shopping vouchers.
A newly developed app called e-Recycle makes waste management easier for the residents of Jakarta, a city that produces approximately 7,700 tons of waste per day. The app offers door-to-door waste collection services that allow residents to exchange their recyclable waste for cash.
To begin with, the service is only available in East Jakarta.
The app was launched in November 2019 by local company PT. Multi Inti Digital Lestari to promote recycling among Jakarta residents.
Users only need to download the application through the Google Play store and register their active phone numbers. To trade plastic waste, users must write down the overall weight and the app will provide information on the price, ranging from Rp 4,000 (29 US cents) to Rp 6,000 per kilogram.
Not all plastic waste is accepted. So far, the company only accepts plastic bottles, bottle caps, plastic cups and gallon caps. The waste will be picked up shortly after the users send a picture of their plastic waste and provide a pick-up address via the app.
“Before waste is recycled, it needs to be sorted, which many people are unaware of,” e-Recycle product head Dicky Wiratama told The Jakarta Post.
