Residents use a smart trash sorting and recycling machine at a local community on Monday. Over 30 such machines have been installed in some communities around Shanghai as the city promotes resource recycling. People are encouraged with certain cash rewards to sort and recycle via these machines. Photo: IC

A unique recently-opened village store in Northeast China is getting rave reviews from netizens for allowing local shoppers to trade their recyclable trash for soap and other daily-use items.  

The store in Harbin, Heilongjiang Province is only open on Sunday mornings. Shoppers can exchange 40 plastic bags, 20 plastic bottles, or 10 spent batteries for a two yuan ($0.29) credit at the store, far more than they would receive at a regular recycling depot, the Beijing News reported on Tuesday. 

The store is sustainable because of funds it has raised from village officials, donations from local companies and selling the trash, village official Liu Guohong told media.  

Net users praised the store, saying it not only improves people's living standard, but is also eco-friendly.

Cities and villages in East China's Shandong and Zhejiang provinces have set up similar waste-exchange stores in 2018, while cities in Northwest China's Gansu, Shaanxi, and Central China's Hunan, Hubei provinces opened similar stores this month.  

Global Times