The bottle recycling machine on Nanjing Road E. now gives out commemorative coins instead of real money.

The bottle recycling machine on Nanjing Road E. now gives out commemorative coins instead of real money.

The machine was set up in a pedestrian mall in May last year to help reduce the number of rubbish collectors on the street.

It was hoped that people would put their empty bottles in the machine, but instead many rubbish collectors were using it to make money by collecting bottles from bins and taking them to the machine.

Management officials in the pedestrian mall said the sight of rubbish collectors rummaging for bottles in the mall's bins did not give the city a good image.

The 30,000 yuan (US$4,396) machine accepts only plastic or aluminum containers.

People put their used containers into an opening. The machine scans the container's barcode and then issues a coin.

The machine, which stands nearly 2 meters tall, has attracted a lot of attention and recycled lots of bottles.

Most people have been putting their bottles into the machine not to make money but because they wanted to help the environment.

However, officials also found it made life easy for rubbish collectors, who would go around the mall collecting bottles from bins and then feeding them into the machine.

From now on, the machine only gives out commemorative coins, officials said.

(Shanghai Daily January 5, 2009)