Pay your bus ticket with plastic cups or bottles

Pay with Mastercard, Visa or… plastic bottles?

Surabaya, Indonesia, now accepts plastic cups and bottles as payment for bus tickets. Passengers can hand in 10 plastic cups or 5 plastic bottles at the terminal or in the bus in exchange for a two hour ticket.

The initiative is part of Surabaya’s goal to be plastic waste free by the end of 2020. In 2018, plastic constituted 15% of the city’s total waste. In addition, Indonesia is the world’s second largest contributor to plastic pollution and it has been estimated that some 15% of plastic waste in the world oceans come from Indonesia.

Surabaya’s plastic exchange initiative has been met with positive feedback. On average, a single bus can collect 250 kg of plastic every day. The plastic collected is auctioned to recycling plants and the money raised is invested directly back into the local transportation system.