This mobile app also connects users to scrap dealers.
Pakistan has introduced a new recycling project called the Green Credit Program in Lahore, encouraging residents to trade plastic waste for money.
This can be done through smart vending machines placed across the city.
The initiative is led by ISP Environmental Solutions in collaboration with Intratech Group and the World Bank. It’s part of Punjab’s Green Credit Program.
Each plastic bottle deposited into the machine earns the user a digital credit. One kilogram of plastic, around 20 large bottles, earns up to Rs. 1,000 (£2.50).
The Reverse Vending Machines (RVMs) accept single-use plastics like cups, plates, and bottles. They reject metal, paper, or other non-plastic items.
To use the machine, a person places bottles into the slot and presses button A.
They enter their mobile number, then press button B.
Their Green Credit total appears on the screen. Users can track the same information using the dedicated mobile app linked to the system.
This mobile app also connects users to scrap dealers. Instead of visiting machines, citizens can have their waste picked up from home.
Over 18,000 local dealers are already part of the system. They, too, receive Green Credit in addition to their usual profit margins.
Lahore generates about 500 tonnes of plastic waste daily. A large part of it ends up in landfills or flows into rivers and drains.
Intratech Chairperson Gulfam Abid said the plastic would be reused in construction.
This includes road repair materials, sustainable bricks, and footpath surfaces.
Each RVM can store up to 25 kilograms of plastic. The machines are locally produced in Pakistan, using advanced Chinese sensor technology.
Each unit costs roughly Rs 800,000 (£2,060) to manufacture. Currently, machines are being installed at four private universities in Lahore.
In later phases, more machines will be placed in public and commercial areas.
Officials hope this will boost community involvement and environmental awareness.
An Eco Bricks Plant has also been set up in the Sundar Industrial Estate.
It will recycle collected plastic into bricks and construction blocks.
The plant’s inauguration is scheduled for July 2025. It will run in tandem with the machine-based collection and trading system.
Officials say this isn’t only about waste management. It’s also about teaching people to treat plastic as a useful, reusable economic resource.
They believe public behaviour can shift when recycling becomes profitable.
Through the Green Credit Program, plastic becomes currency, not just garbage.
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